


Sweet Angel Child

by MaggyStar17



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Nephilim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-03
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 18:42:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/421944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaggyStar17/pseuds/MaggyStar17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel of 'Why don't you and I'.  If you haven't read it, I suggest you do it first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two is better than one

Sam and Dean kept hunting while Bobby took care of little Aurea. Lucifer and Castiel where often in Heaven, but from time to time they came down and stayed by a couple of days with their family. Their life was like that during a year and half, until Castiel showed his desire of having a child with Dean. After his astonished expression at first, the idea of having a child brought an unexpected happiness to Dean.

Then they told the news to Sam, Lucifer and Bobby. The rest of the family brought no objection; in fact Lucifer helped Castiel finding a suitable vessel. After two days they found the perfect girl; she looked like Castiel’s vessel, and she was hot too, but the most important was that she was able to host Castiel for the months of pregnancy. Lucifer dismissed Castiel from his work in Heaven, which Dean was very pleased; having Castiel close to him every single day... Dean didn’t care about Castiel’s new vessel; no matter how he looked, Dean could identify the remarkable characteristics of his lover, not only in his behaviour but also in his shiny peaceful eyes. Dean knew it was his Castiel.

Dean stopped hunting while Castiel was pregnant, but Sam kept hunting, although not so often. The lovely days Dean was with Castiel passed quickly and without really noticing, the marvellous day came. In that day Lucifer took Castiel to his refugee house, for everyone’s safety. The energy released could do some harm to the humans, but Dean didn’t care; he made Lucifer take him too. He wasn’t going to leave his lover, not even for one second.

It had been hours since they had left home, and Sam and Bobby waited anxiously for news, although a bit worried too. Aurea, with two years old now, was exited to meet her cousin. She also wanted her uncles to come back; she had gotten really close to Dean and Castiel. When Sam and Lucifer weren’t home she hung out with them, sometimes unwarily interrupting Dean’s time alone with Castiel.

It was already dark when Lucifer returned. “The baby boy is fine,” he said. “They’re all fine.” Sam and Bobby breathed in relieve.

“Can we go see them?” Aurea asked with her childish sweet voice as she approached with little jumps.

Sam picked up the little girl and she looked expectantly to Lucifer. “...No.” Lucifer told her nicely and touched her nose. “They’ll come back tomorrow. You’ll see them then.” Her happy face turned into a bit disappointed look.

“Let’s go, it’s time for you to go to bed.” Sam told his daughter. “Say goodnights.”

“Goodnight, grandpa,” she said.

“Good night, darling.” Bobby caressed her blond hair.

Then Sam took her to her new bedroom and Lucifer followed them. When she got dressed her pink pyjamas, she lied on the bed.

"Sleep tight," Sam said softly and kissed her cheek tenderly as he tucked her.

"Sweet dreams, baby." Lucifer kissed her head, and then they left the room.

Sam also went to sleep and Lucifer lied on the bed, just watching his lover. When he had left his daughter’s room, he was suspicious; something told him Aurea wasn’t conformed to the idea of waiting for their uncles and cousin to come back and it was very likely she would do something about it. He went to check on her quietly and Aurea was sat on the bed, concentrated and tense. Lucifer knew she was about to fly away.

"You're going somewhere?" The sudden voice by the door startled Aurea.

She turned back and she knew her dad knew what she was about to do. It wasn't hard to guess where she would go. "I just want to take peek." Aurea tried to excuse herself. "It would be quick, and no one will notice me." No one would notice her in the refugee house and no one would notice that she had left home.

Lucifer approached her and sat on the bed. "I know you're excited." He could feel that. "But you've got to let your uncles have some privacy and some time in family." Besides that, Castiel needed to rest. "You just have to be patience. It's only until tomorrow..."

"But it still takes so long until tomorrow..." She protested.

Lucifer didn't understand her notion of time. To him one day spent on Earth was like a second in his long countless life. Not that he didn't appreciate every second he passed with Sam and Aurea; those had been the best moments of his life. So he guessed that maybe people thought an hour was a long or a short time comparing to their lifetime. In that case it made sense. "It'll pass faster if you sleep."

Aurea stood in silent for a while. "Sing for me," she asked suddenly and Lucifer couldn't say no to her pleading eyes. Lucifer put her on his lap comfortably wrapped in his arms and he sang Stairway to Heaven. He didn't know if it was from the song or from his embrace, but by the end on the song, Aurea was already asleep.

Lucifer laid her on the bed again. He could feel her much more calm.

He returned to Sam's bed and during the night he couldn’t help but to think how alike Aurea was to him and Sam, or how alike she could get. There was no one more rebel than them... If she had that rebelliousness, if she once didn't care to his dads orders like Lucifer and ran away like Sam... They were going to be in trouble. Or worst; she could get in trouble.

The morning came and the sunlight started to illuminate the room. A couple of hours later Aurea appeared in the middle of the room, although Sam was trying to teach her to knock on the door before she enters. But by the look on her face, as if she was asking if she could come closer, it seemed like she knew she had done it wrong. Lucifer sat up and silently told her to come closer and Aurea ran smiling. Lucifer helped her to climb the bed and soon she was sat on Lucifer's legs.

Aurea looked at Sam. “Daddy’s still sleeping.”

“Not for long.” Lucifer smirked and then he put a finger in front of his mouth, gesturing Aurea to be quiet. She watched curious and expectant. Lucifer made appear a bottle on whipped cream and quietly started covering Sam’s hand that was out of the covers. Aurea was confused of what was her dad’s idea, but she didn’t ask, she just waited.

When Sam’s left hand was filled with the white cream Lucifer started making tickles on Sam’s face. As expected, after a while, in reflexive moment Sam brought the hand to his face to get rid of the itch, but instead he got his face covered with the cream. As he did so, Sam woke up a bit startled, but then he understood what had happen when he saw Lucifer laughing and Aurea trying to hide her laugh with her hands, considering it not a nice thing to do it, but it was still funny. Sam sat straight, watching them with a not very pleased face.

Sam cleaned most of his face with the t-shirt he was wearing. Then the laugh stopped and Sam faced Lucifer; he knew it had been his idea. Watching the exchange of glances between her parents, Sam like ‘if looks could kill…’ and Lucifer like ‘I don’t regret anything’, she interrupted it by hugging Sam. “Good morning, daddy.”

As if magic, the soft words of his daughter made him momentarily forget or just ignore Lucifer. “Good morning, sweetheart.” Sam run his clean hand over her head while Aurea removed the whipped cream of his other hand and ate it. When his hand was almost clean, Sam asked “Are you hungry, Aurea?” The little girl nodded as she finished licking her fingers. “Then go see if your granddad is already awake. We’ll be right down.” In the next second Aurea disappeared, leaving Sam looking at the place where she used to be; he still wasn’t used to that.

Then Sam turned to Lucifer again. “Don’t look at me like that, Sammy,” Lucifer told him.

“Sometimes you’re even more childish than Aurea.” Sam sounded and looked upset.

“Sammy… You’re sweet when you’re upset.” Lucifer got closer to Sam and kissed his cheek, feeling the taste of the whipped cream on Sam’s skin. “In this case, literally.” He smirked.

Sam tried to ignore as Lucifer kept planting kisses on his cheek, every time closer to his mouth. Lucifer knew Sam wasn’t really mad at him, he was just playing hard, but Lucifer was sure it wouldn’t last for long. Soon he found Sam’s lips; slowly Sam gave in and kissed him back every time more deeply. Sam got lost between the soft and wet tongue and the sweet taste of the cream, so he looked for more contact and got closer to Lucifer until he was on his lap. Lucifer had his hand on Sam’s lower back, where the t-shirt ended and he could feel the warm skin.

Lucifer left Sam’s mouth and kissed his neck. Soon he returned to Sam’s face but this time he licked the remains of the sugary cream. He licked from his cheek to next of his eye. “Okay, now that’s disgusting.” Sam pushed him away gently.

“As if you didn’t like it…” Before Sam could reply, Lucifer kissed him again, renewing the sweet taste.

Sam’s hand came from Lucifer’s shoulder to his face, holding his jaw as he pulled away. “This means nothing. You’ll still have some pay back.” Sam warned him.

“Anytime, Sammy.” Lucifer smiled; he’d like to see what Sam would do to him.

Not much time later they went downstairs where Bobby was making breakfast and Aurea watched every move her grandfather did. When it was ready, they sat at the table, ate the breakfast and waited for Dean and Castiel to come back with their son.


	2. A more profound bond

Dean and Castiel only returned some time after lunch. They appeared in the middle of the living room; Dean held the little baby and Castiel slid his hand down Dean's arm from the travelling. Castiel was using his former vessel again.

Everyone approached them and they kept staring, as the three wise kings adoring baby Jesus. "He's beautiful, Dean." It was all Sam managed to say.

"Congratulations, boys." Bobby said to Dean and Castiel.

Soon Aurea came running and Sam picked her up so she could see her cousin, wrapped in a fluffy blue blanket. Aurea had her hands and arms shaking from excitement and maybe happiness, as if she wanted to hug the baby but she was too afraid of breaking the newborn.

"How are you going to call him?" Sam asked curious. He didn't know why, but they hadn't talked about it before.

"John." Dean said, proudly. Sam smiled of how likely it was that they'd choose their dad's name. Sam still loved the name.

Finally Aurea touched softly on little John's head and he opened his eyes. Dean felt a slight shiver coming from his son and then he noticed Lucifer and Castiel changing surprised and worried looks, as if they had felt the same odd thing and they were confirming if the other sensed too. Sam noticed that too and wondered what had happened.

Aurea, seeing his cousin looking at her, said in a sweet voice "Hi, Johnny." She removed her hand and then the little baby slowly fell asleep again.

"May I give my grandson a tour for the house?" Bobby asked, feeling that Sam, Dean and the angels would need some time to talk, privately, with no kids around. Dean gave him the baby and, as Sam put Aurea down, she followed her grandfather and cousin.

Turning his attention back to the angels, Dean asked "What is it?"

After a moment of silence Castiel said truly in his deep voice, "I don't know."

But the vague answer wasn't enough for Dean or Sam, so Lucifer continued, "When Aurea touched John, we felt like…"

"Like an explosion of fear, replaced by a strong mutual link of security and love." Castiel concluded.

Dean was surprised by the poetic words of his lover that was able to describe something so emotional.

"For short, they created a bond." Lucifer clarified.

"Are you certain?" Castiel asked, not that he doubt Lucifer, but what they felt was something new.

"As I never felt any like it… but yes, it was a bond." Lucifer confirmed. "The strongest I ever witnessed… And the curious thing is that neither of them noticed it. But I guess it makes sense."

"How it makes sense?" Dean asked, confused.

"They didn't control it, they didn't decide to create a bond. It happened naturally." He explained. "And it makes sense because they are the only Nephilins in the universe. They're in survival mode, to assure the specie's perpetuation."

After the first impact, absorbing the information, Sam broke the silence "Really?"

"Yes. I've seen a lot of species being created, this is what usually happens." Lucifer said in a softer voice. Before he had been cast down in the pit, Lucifer had taken very interest in his Father's creations.

For the rest of the afternoon Castiel kept little John in his arms; Castiel fed him when he was hungry and also changed him twice. But wherever he went, Dean was right at his side, giving him soft kisses from time to time. An hour after dinner Dean and Castiel went to their room and laid Johnny on the comfy crib. They stayed watching their baby for some time. Dean had a big smile on his face and Castiel could feel his lover's happiness, so he smiled too.

Dean never thought that in his miserable life, he'd feel such happiness. Looking back, to the painful and traumatic experiences he had been through… it had worth it, just to get him there, to the family he never thought he'd have. "I love you," Dean whispered.

Castiel turned his head to look at Dean and kissed him deeply but gentle. "I love you too, now and forever," Castiel said as if the kiss hadn't been enough to show it.

Dean stared into Castiel's eyes as the truthful words escaped from his mouth, and Dean couldn't resist the urge to kiss him again. So Dean pulled Castiel closer by his hip and kissed the angel passionately as he held him tight. Castiel's hands managed to reach Dean's short hair, caressing it. When the long and meaningful kiss ended, Dean kept hugging Castiel. Castiel's eyes shut, not only from the comfort but because he was still tired. He hadn't rested enough last night, and Dean knew it. "Let's go to bed."

They changed to some more comfortable clothes and as they got into bed they heard a soft knock on the door.

"Yes?" Dean said.

The door opened and Aurea came in.

"Hey." Dean greeted her. "Come here." Aurea approached and climbed the bed. "Also going to sleep?" Dean guessed by Aurea's slow movements; she usually flied everywhere, especially to startle Dean, but this time she didn't.

Aurea nodded and she blinked a few times. "Goodnight, uncle Dee." She said in a sweet but tired voice.

"Goodnight, princess." Dean kissed her blond hair.

Then she turned to Castiel. "Goodnight, uncle Cas." Aurea leaned against his chest, in a sort of a hug.

"Goodnight, Aurea." Castiel put a gentle hand on her back. She liked and needed physical contact, so that she was able to feel the warmth of their little bond. During that moment Castiel felt the tiredness of the young child. "Go." He whispered softly to his niece, stopping her from falling asleep.

Aurea opened her eyes and got down of the bed. As she passed by John's crib "Goodnight, Johnny." Aware or unwarily, the little baby made a sound as if he was replying. She got out of the room and closed the door.

Dean and Castiel lied down and soon they fell asleep. Unfortunately two hours later John started crying. Castiel moved still half asleep, but before he got up, Dean said "I go."

"Dean…" Castiel began to protest but Dean kissed his cheek. "Sleep." He ordered in a whisper. Castiel needed and deserved a good night of sleep.

Castiel felt Dean getting out of the bed and a sudden cold hit him. As soon as Dean picked up his son, wrapped in a blanket, John went quiet. Castiel heard Dean shushing the little baby as he walked away from the room to feed his son. Contrary to Dean's order, Castiel couldn't fell back asleep; he still wasn't used to sleep and he didn't fell asleep easily, and he missed the comfort of Dean's embrace.

Twenty minutes later, Dean returned and put back Johnny in the crib. Then he got in the bed, close to Castiel's back and Castiel felt again the missed warmth, even more when Dean slid a hand gently on his abdomen. Back in the comfort of his lover, Castiel was able to sleep again, even sooner than Dean.


	3. Angel's are watching over you

A week later, Castiel had to return to Heaven and help Lucifer. But he still went every day to see his baby and Dean. After two weeks, Bobby found a possible case on a newspaper, so he delivered it to Sam, who went to investigate. He went to the crime scene, went to the victim's house, talked to some people, but he didn't find the creature responsible for the murder. Sam returned home to see if Bobby had found something useful, but unfortunately Bobby hadn't found anything useful in his old books.

Dean offered to go to the local library to search some information. Sam asked if Dean wanted him to go with him. But Dean refused his help, which indicated he would have someone else's help; most probably from Castiel. While Dean grabbed some things to take in his bedroom, Aurea watched him, sat on his bed.

"Can I go with you, uncle Dee?" Aurea asked.

"No, not this time." Dean told her. Then Aurea looked down, sadly, and Dean couldn't just leave her like that. "Because I need you to do something for me while I'm gone." Aurea looked instantly at him. "I need you to watch out for Johnny, okay? Can you do that?"

"Yeah," The little girl said with a smile.

There was a chair near to John's crib and Aurea got out of the bed and sat on the chair. When Dean had everything he needed and was about to leave, he said "See you later." as he passed by his niece and rubbed her hair.

Sometime after Dean left, the house was unusually quiet and Sam noticed what was different; Aurea. She usually ran all over the house with a dark silvery plain (a bit cheesy but she liked it, at least more than the car Dean offered her. She seemed to like more things that fly.) or practiced her powers, like moving things with her mind. Lucifer said it was good for her to learn to control her powers, but Sam didn't like to let her out of his sight when she did that. So Sam went looking for her and found her in Dean and Castiel's room, where Dean had left her.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Sam asked as he approached her from the back.

"Watching out for Johnny." She said, without any emotion in her voice.

"O-kay." Sam found it a bit strange, but he let her be. When she got tired she would get down.

But an hour passed and Aurea was still in the same place.

"Aurea, don't you want to eat something?" That was usually the time she got hungry and ate a snack in the afternoon.

"I've got to watch out for Johnny." She repeated.

Sam looked at his nephew, who was sleeping peacefully. "You know he's not going anywhere…" he tried to joke. "Johnny's fine."

"I promised uncle Dean I'd watch out for him." Aurea replied firmly, which alerted Sam; something was wrong with his daughter. She usually didn't behave like that.

Sam didn't know what was happening but he didn't say anything else. He just leaned against the wall, watching in silence.

After some time, Aurea broke the silence "Johnny's hungry." She said even before the little baby started crying.

As Bobby fed his grandson, Aurea followed him around and when he finished and put back John in the crib, Aurea returned to the same position as before. Bobby also found Aurea's behavior strange but he didn't come to any conclusion of why Aurea was acting like that. He thought it could be because Aurea's bond with John, perhaps it brought more harm than good. Either way, he couldn't confirm or deny it.

Sam kept watching his daughter, getting more worried as the time passed. Aurea didn't say a word for the next hour, she didn't even move a inch.

Lucifer appeared in the room suddenly, but it didn't startled Sam as it usually did. "Hello, baby girl." He kissed his daughter's hair, but Aurea didn't seem to notice his presence. Or if she did, she didn't manifest herself.

Lucifer approached Sam. "What's wrong with her?" He asked casually.

"I wish I knew." Sam replied in a low voice.

Lucifer could see worry and fear in Sam's eyes. "Sam, what happened?" He asked seriously, this time. (Lucifer rarely called him 'Sam'.)

Sam took a deep breath before he starts. "Aurea's been there for some hours, statically. I can't make her leave." He wasn't sure if he could, but he didn't want to take it to the last consequences.

"Why is she there?"

"I guess… Dean should have asked her to watch out for Johnny while he was gone, or something." He looked right in Lucifer's eyes. "That's all I know." Although Sam looked calm on the outside, he was shaking on the inside (and Lucifer could feel it). Maybe he was overreacting, maybe it was nothing serious… but he didn't know. Isn't that the worst thing?

Lucifer's look exchanged from worried to calm, for a millisecond, and then to an angry look. "Your ignorant brother…" He said in a low voice. "I swear I'm going to kill him." Lucifer's voice got louder. Only then he realized he was in the presence of his daughter, but she didn't seem to care.

Somehow Sam calmed down a bit. If Lucifer was angry it was because he knew what had happened.

"Where's Dean?" Lucifer asked before Sam could say something. "I'm gonna drag him back here."

"I don't think that's a good idea. He's… with Cas." Lucifer was probably going to interrupt Dean's 'research' with Castiel.

"I don't care." Lucifer walked to the door, possibly to vanish soon, but Sam walked in front of him.

"Lucifer, what's wrong with Aurea?" Sam unconsciously grabbed Lucifer shirt, with eyes begging for an explanation.

Lucifer eased his rage and took Sam to the living room and told him and Bobby what was happening. Not long after Lucifer had finished explaining, Dean returned home with Castiel.

"How do you still amaze me with your stupidity?!" Lucifer approached Dean violently.

"Hey!" Dean protested, unaware of what he was referring to. Sam grabbed Lucifer by his arm, whispering his name, so he wouldn't do anything to Dean. "Yeah Sam, I think is better you put a leash on your angel." Dean said as he stepped back.

Sam gripped Lucifer tighter as he sent a disapproval glare to his brother. By Sam's look Dean understood there was something serious going on, but before could ask Castiel got ahead. "What happened?" He had noticed everyone upset looks.

"Oh, it was your idiot human that put Aurea watching out John." Lucifer answered him.

Castiel understood the problem in that and he looked at Dean, asking him to confirm he had done that. "What?" Dean said feeling all the eyes on him. "Yes, I asked Aurea. So what?"

"So you're forgetting she's not human." Lucifer told him with a cold look. "She's a part angel too, and as every angel we're obligated to do what we're told."

Dean just stared at him confused. "Dean, you gave her an order." Castiel told him calmly.

"No. I didn't." Dean tried to defend himself.

"She understood as if you did." Castiel rephrased it.

"And she must obey to orders, no matter what. The angel part of her makes her do that. No matter how hungry she gets, or tired… she had to do what you told her to do, blindly." Lucifer paused, still upset. "Because she trusts you and she's too young to question what you say."

For a moment Dean didn't know what to say. "I… I didn't really expect her to do what I said. Not that way."

"You gave the order. Now go in there and take it back!" Lucifer told him.

Dean didn't move immediately and Sam said "Dean, Aurea's been there for five hours…" Sam's voice wasn't upset; it was a low pleading tone for to Dean get his baby girl out of there.

And so Dean went to his bedroom and everyone followed him. "Hey, princess." He greeted Aurea, tried to sound casual, as he got close to her. "I'm back."

Aurea looked at him, as if she had been under a spell and had just been released from it. Dean kneeled in front of her. "Thanks for taking care of Johnny. You can go, now."

Aurea got down of the chair and Sam held her tight. "Daddy…" She said softly, grabbing Sam's neck.

She didn't understand why everyone was around her seemed so troubled. Sam took her out of the room and Lucifer followed him. Bobby went too, leaving Dean and Castiel alone.

Sam went to the kitchen to find something for Aurea to eat. The situation was back to normal but Sam was still a bit stressed, but nothing compared to Lucifer. Lucifer had the same angry expression and it looked like there was rage building up inside him that he couldn't expel. After more than two years with Lucifer, Sam recognized the signs when Lucifer was about to vanish. "Lucifer, I need you." Sam tried to make Lucifer do not leave him.

"Just give me one second." It was all Lucifer said before disappearing. It wasn't good for Sam or Aurea being around when he was in that state.

It wasn't literally one second, but Lucifer didn't take long to come back. Sam didn't know what Lucifer had done, but whatever it was, made Lucifer return to his calm temperament. It was unusual Lucifer being hot-head; he was very calm and confident, that was how Sam saw him and met him. But that didn't apply when someone messed with his the worst was that it had been Dean; if it had been any other creature, he'd just sent it to Hell, but Dean… he couldn't do anything to him.

Lucifer walked to Sam's bed where he was with Aurea tucked in his arms. "I'm sorry, Sammy." He said softly after sitting at Sam's side.

Sam wasn't sure to what Lucifer was referring to; if for leaving him (even if it had been only for 5 minutes) or for getting a bit out of control or even something else. But either way, he was forgiven. Sam got closer and kissed him gently. Lucifer put an arm around Sam's back and the remains of Sam's stress vanished as he relaxed in Lucifer's embrace, even little Aurea fell asleep.


	4. I can see… well, everything

A week passed after the unfortunate incident and it was all good; there were no heart feelings, although Dean still felt a bit guilty. After finishing that job they were working on, they found another job two days later. Dean and Sam left to investigate while Bobby took care of his beloved grandchildren.

They returned a few days later, in the middle of a dark night. Dean got in the house with the bags, carefully to not wake anyone, and left them in the living room. Sam got in next to Dean, holding his arm. Sam had got hurt on the fight against the werewolf the hunted. Besides the usual bruises from confronts with creatures, what needed more care was the cut the werewolf had made with his claws in Sam’s arm.

They went to the bathroom so Dean could take care of the deep cut that was certainly going to need stitches. Sam sat on the toilet lid as Dean grabbed on the alcohol, tissue and needle.

Then Sam noticed a shadow on the floor. He looked at the entrance and saw Aurea standing on the doorway in a light green pajama and yellow socks. Dean also turned his attention to his niece. “Aurea.” He said, surprised to see her. She shouldn’t be there, she shouldn’t see Sam’s bloodied arm.

“It’s late, Aurea. You should go back to bed.” Sam said, hiding his wounded arm from the girl’s sight.

“You’re hurt.” She said in surprise and worry.

“I’m… I’m okay. This is just a scratch. I’ll be fine.” Sam told her, ignoring the pain that he had been feeling for half hour.

Aurea stared at him for a moment. Dean looked between her and his hurt brother, seeing and drops of blood falling on the white floor and wondering if he should say or do something. Then Aurea approached Sam and touched his wounded arm above the cut wrapped in a white towel (now mostly red than white). “Aurea…” Sam said softly before feeling a heat on the arm and suddenly the pain vanished. Sam removed the towel and there was no cut anymore; he was healed.

Sam and Dean looked at her, astonished but none of them said anything. Sam took off his half bloodied shirt and picked up his daughter. “It’s time to go back to bed.” They left the bathroom and Dean put things back in the place, since he wasn’t going to need them, fortunately.

On the way Aurea asked “Daddy, can I sleep with you?”

Sam made Aurea get used to sleep alone in her room. She rarely slept with someone, but this time Sam made an exception. “Sure.”

They lay down on Sam’s bed. Aurea was lying on her stomach close to her father, just like she used to be when she was younger. Sam felt the closeness again after a long time and remembered how it made him happy, the happiness that contrasted with the suffering he had felt most of his life. After seeing and fighting evil it was good come back to his lovely daughter who had healed him, physical and psychologically. “Thanks, Aurea.” Sam whispered to her even though she was probably sleeping already.

Just like Sam, Dean looked for comfort in his son. Dean didn’t need much, just watching his sweet baby was enough. And that was what Dean did, he watched John as he slept just before he went to bed. It was better than a lullaby, close to a bedtime story, but better; because it was real.

\-----------------------

When Aurea woke up Sam was still sleeping, the sun illuminated the room and she took a while to adjust her eyes. Then she heard some noise that came probably from the kitchen. She got out of bed gently, not to wake her father, and out of the room. As she got to the kitchen she saw her grandfather holding John who was crying; it wasn’t too loud but it disturbed Aurea.

“What do you want, baby boy? You’re not hungry, you’re not wet...” Bobby thought of the possibilities why John was crying. “Do you miss your dad?” Bobby kept shaking gently the baby. He tried to give John his pacifier, but it fell on the ground.

Before Bobby had found a way of picking it up holding his grandson, Aurea appeared standing on the couch holding him the blue pacifier. Bobby was startled by the sudden appearance, but he didn’t show it. “Thanks, sweetheart.” Bobby took the pacifier of her hand.

Looking at the crying baby, Aurea touched his foot in hope to find out why he was crying. She was surprised, but glad that when she touched John, he started calming down. Apparently he had been calling for her; he missed her. Although Aurea was present in John’s life almost all the time, he needed the physical contact to sense her.

“Do you wanna hold him?” Bobby asked her and Aurea nodded with a smile.

She sat on the couch and Bobby put little John on her lap. He didn’t know if it was luck, instinct or if Aurea knew, but the young girl held her cousin the right way, in a such comfortable way that John stayed quiet and relaxed, staring up at Aurea as she smiled.

As the kids seemed to be alright, Bobby said “I’m gonna make breakfast.” He turned around, leaving the kids bonding.

\-------------------------

As Sam woke up from the restful sleep, he was surprised by Lucifer, sat on the bed watching him. Sam smiled at him, still with eyes half closed. “Where’s Aurea?” He asked realizing she wasn’t there.

“She’s downstairs.” Lucifer told him.

“And you came seeing me first, than your daughter...?” Sam said in a soft criticizing tone.

“She’s busy with John. I didn’t want to interrupt.” He said before leaning down and kissing Sam deeply and so intensely that Sam got lost in the touch. Almost instinctively Sam brought a hand to Lucifer’s blond hair, caressing it and gently pressing their mouths together. For moment Sam was glad Aurea wasn’t there.

When Lucifer pulled back Sam still kept enjoying the touch that was no longer there. “You got hurt, last night. I felt it.” Lucifer’s serious tone caught Sam’s attention and he sat on the bed. “But then I ceased to feel it.”

Sam smiled slightly; Lucifer didn’t let his emotions show, but after two years Sam could see right through him, and he saw worry in Lucifer’s look. “Dean and I were hunting a werewolf... It appeared suddenly and clawed my arm. But when I got home... Aurea healed me.”

“Really?” Lucifer asked in surprised.

“Yeah.” Sam answered, still amazed.

Lucifer was in silence for a moment. “Then I guess it’s time.”

“Time for what?” Sam asked confused.

“For me to intervene in Aurea’s abilities. To help her control them.”

“You mean training her.” It was a statement and by Sam’s tone he wasn’t very happy about it. “Don’t you think it’s too soon?”

“I thought it was. I was waiting until all her abilities started to show... But now she can do the same things I can.”

“How do you know?”

“If she can heal, that means she can see... well, everything.” Sam was still looking at him confused. “Humans don’t see the world the way angels do. We can see things much more detailed, even at a big distance. For example, I can feel and hear your heartbeat. I can feel Dean’s too; his is faster, he’s probably having a nightmare. Now I know that you’re worried about him, like I could know what everyone else’s thinking in this house.” Lucifer had never talked with Sam about the things he could do, but now it was important for him to know, so he could understand Aurea. “You’re not just a being, you’re a series of millions and millions of living organisms, and I can see every one of them. And just like I can see them, Aurea can see them too.” He paused as Sam absorbed all, in surprise but also a bit scared. “If Aurea can feel your microscopic cells and make them rapidly multiply, I’m sure she can feel everything else.”

“Okay” Sam said after a while. “What are you going to do?”

“I was thinking about taking her to the refugee house for a few days. It’s more peaceful there and it helps her to focus. I’ll have to test her abilities and help her to control them, perhaps even create some limits.”

“How? She won’t understand. She’s too young.” Aurea wouldn’t understand why there were certain things she couldn’t do, without telling the reason. But Lucifer wasn’t going to tell her about the dangerous and evil creatures that lived in that world. Not yet; by Sam he’d never tell her... But that was subject for another conversation.

“Maybe... But she’ll do what I say.”

Sam understood what Lucifer meant. “You’re gonna do the same thing. The same thing Dean did... You almost hit Dean for doing that, and you’re going to do the same thing?”

“Sam, I don’t like it. But I’ll do it, if I have to.” Sam could see Lucifer’s words were true. “To assure Aurea’s safety.”

Sam took a moment, thinking about the subject. “I don’t... I don’t like it.” He wasn’t sure of what exactly, but something told him it wasn’t a good idea, and he had to let that clear with Lucifer.

“I know.” Lucifer could sense Sam’s worry and discomfort. “Think better about it. You’ve got time.” He looked away for a second. “There are some things I have to do first.”

“What?” By Lucifer’s tone it seemed to be something serious.

\----------------------

Dean woke up and when he opened his eyes he saw Castiel next to him. It took a moment before Dean could talk, there was something weird in the dream he just had had. “It was you.” He realised. He remembered having a dream about Hell, and then suddenly it changed and he was beautiful and peaceful place.

If he thought about it wasn’t that strange; he knew Castiel would be always there to protect him, even from his bad memories. Dean sat on the bed and kissed Castiel’s cheek. “Thanks.” He whispered and Castiel turned his face to kiss him.

Dean’s enjoyment of the kiss was lost as they detached from each other and Dean looked to Castiel’s serious face. Well, Castiel’s face was usually serious, but in that moment Dean recognized his expression. “What happened?” He asked to Castiel that seemed confused look of how Dean knew there was a matter he wanted to discuss. “You have the ‘we need to talk, Dean’ look.”

Castiel smiled a little, it was curious how Dean got to know him so well... “Lucifer and I were thinking about making an intervention in Hell.”

Dean wasn’t sure what Castiel meant exactly. “You’re gonna get rid of it?” He hoped.

“No. We are going to lock it down; don’t let demons get out.” Castiel explained. Apparently Lucifer still thought some humans were evil and deserved go to Hell. “But there are already many demons out here. So we’ve got to sent them back to where they belong.”

“How are you gonna do that?” Dean asked.

“At first we’re going to give them the chance to go back themselves...” Which was unlikely to happen, but Dean was sure it had been Castiel’s suggestion. “If they don’t, the Angels will start hunting them down.”

“Wow, Angels hunting Demons...” Dean said surprised. Once before Dean thought that was the Angels’ job, but then he learned that apparently Angels had more important things to do.

“You may even find some angels, sometime...” Dean was even more surprised, but he had to admit it would be good having some help hunting demons. “But... we’ll be busy for some time.”

The soft words were clear enough for Dean. “You mean you won’t show up for a while.” It was more a statement than a question.

“Yes.” Castiel couldn’t hide a bit of sadness and neither could Dean. But he understood it was Castiel’s job, and after all Castiel was helping him somehow.

“Hey, maybe we’ll meet on a hunt.” Dean tried to give them some hope.

Castiel smiled a little. “Maybe.”


	5. Weekend at Lucifer's

Three weeks passed since Castiel and Lucifer had left, the longest time they’ve been without showing up in two years. But somehow the hunters knew they were alright, but they still missed them. On some hunts, Sam and Dean got lucky because they had help from some angels that popped out of nowhere and killed the demons. Still, they weren’t so lucky, because none of the angel was Castiel or Lucifer.

Some things changed, especially with Aurea, since she seemed upset lately. She wanted to do new things, outside. But outside was a dangerous big world with supernatural creatures at every corner, too many creatures for Bobby to fight to protect two children if they attack. At home they were safe; but it seemed that the place had suddenly turned smaller to Aurea. Bobby tried to keep the young child occupied, but in the middle of one day it stopped working and Aurea sat on couch quietly with an upset look.

This was how Sam found her when he got home. “What’s going on?” Sam asked his daughter.

“I’m bored.” She said with arms slightly crossed.

Sam smiled; he couldn’t cease to notice her resemblance with Lucifer, the same eyes, same expression... “I’m sure we’ll find something fun to do.” And if she was like Lucifer, he’d be able to kill her boredom as well.

Then something seemed to catch Aurea’s attention. Sam got suspicious of what it was, and his suspicious was confirmed a second later when Castiel and Lucifer arrived. Lucifer appeared right behind him and Sam only had to turn his head to kiss him. Sam couldn’t see Castiel and Dean but by the sounds they made it looked like they were also making up for the time they were separated.

“How did it go?” Sam asked.

“They weren’t very happy, but we’re taking care of it.” Lucifer said, referring to the demons.

“Yeah, we’ve met some of your colleagues.” Dean said as he passed by them holding Castiel’s hand. And then they left the living room.

“Where have you been?” The childish voice caught Lucifer’s attention.

Lucifer sat next to his daughter. “I’ve been working.” He was about to ask why she was asking, but Aurea explained before he asks.

“You’re never here.” The sad voice and Aurea’s look hit Lucifer like a lightning, right in his heart, almost breaking it. The worst was that it was true, he wasn’t much time around.

“You’re right.” He said as Sam noticed Lucifer’s face turn a little sad. “That’s why I was thinking about we make a little vacation for a few days, you and me. What do you say?”

Lucifer watched as a smile formed in his daughter’s face. Sam saw it too. He hadn’t been very happy about Lucifer’s plan at first, but now, maybe it would be a good thing.

“I see you didn’t like my idea, that fine.” Lucifer joked, since Aurea hadn’t answered him yet.

 “No. I like it, I like it.” Aurea said enthusiastically grabbing Lucifer’s arm.

Sam packed up some things for them to take, even though if they needed something, Lucifer could simply make it appear in an instant. It was all settled for them to leave in the next day morning. Even after a talk with Lucifer, Sam still felt a bit uncomfortable about the situation.

“Relax, Sammy...” Lucifer told him, feeling Sam’s tension. “It will go fine.” Lucifer reassured it with a kiss that for a moment made all his worries go away.

With that, Lucifer and Aurea left. One second they were home and in the next they were in the isolated house, miles away from where they had been. As they arrived Aurea looked around at the big clean house, astonished. It was very different from what she was used to see, but somehow the place seemed a bit familiar to Aurea. For the rest of the morning Lucifer let Aurea explore the house.

Then, after lunch, they went to the terrace and enjoyed to beautiful view, the extension of trees, the clear blue sky and the ocean in shades of blue and white. Every single thing was beautiful in itself, but the combination of the three made place look amazing. Aurea watched the surrounding place with her mouth open, which reminded Lucifer the first time he had watched the Earth. Apart from the humans, he had found the place stunning.

“You want to take a look around?” Lucifer asked, getting his daughter’s attention, who nodded.

Lucifer held Aurea’s hand and in the next second they were flying over the green trees. A wonderful feeling invaded Aurea as she looked down; the big space where she was gave her a sensation of freedom. They flew slowly (which were only a few seconds, but the time seemed different when they were flying) over the blue ocean as the sun heated their wings. As they approached the coast, they felt the cold wet splashes of the salty ocean as it hit the rocks. Then they returned to the terrace. Aurea had a big grin on her face and she asked “Can I go again?”

For Lucifer, it had been a test, to see how well Aurea flied on an open space, and he had to admit she was pretty good. So he asked “You think you can do it on your own?” She took a moment, thinking and then she gave him a confident nod.

Lucifer crouched in front of his daughter. “I’ll be watching you.” He said to give her some security. “Don’t go far.” Lucifer advised.

“Yes, dad.” Aurea said before disappearing from the terrace.

Aurea passed by the same places as she did before, while Lucifer kept a track on her, ready to intervene if something went wrong. After some laps around the house she got confident and she speeded up a little, enjoying the wind pass by her body. She kept flying as a free bird, and as a free bird she followed a little beautiful blue bird for a while. Then Aurea entered in the forest and flew between the trees, deviating from them quickly. There was something that surprised Lucifer; as Aurea flew, the leaves cut her skin, but before she felt the pain, it was healed. It was something so automatic that Aurea didn’t even notice was she was doing, she was just having fun.

An hour quickly passed and then Aurea finally returned to the house; the landing was a bit sudden and turbulent as she fell kneeled on the floor.

“We’ve got to improve that landing later.” Lucifer told her as Aurea got up, breathing fast after the effort and with the blond messy hair shining like gold from the sunlight.

“I can do better. I show you.”

“Later, alright?” Lucifer repeated putting a hand on Aurea’s shoulder. “It’s time for you to eat something.”

They returned to the kitchen where Aurea drank a glass of chocolate milk and eat some biscuit with orange flavour. When she finished they sat on couch and soon Aurea climbed to Lucifer’s lap and got herself comfortable as Lucifer watched her with a smile. With the head against her father’s chest she could hear Lucifer’s heartbeat and she relaxed and even closed her eyes sometimes. “Dad...?” Aurea called.

“Yes.” Lucifer met the little blue eyes, similar to his.

“I love you.” Aurea said in a sweet and soft voice.

Lucifer couldn’t exactly find the motive for those words in that moment, but he didn’t care. Lucifer smiled and said “I love you too, baby.” With a kiss in her forehead Aurea soon fell asleep and only woke up an hour and half later.

For the rest of the afternoon they trained Aurea’s landing inside the house, in a funny way for her, and she got better very quickly, to Lucifer’s surprise. Sometime after dinner it was time to go to bed.

“Thanks for taking me here, dad. This is great.” Aurea said, sat on the bed.

Yes, Lucifer could see the happiness in his daughter’s face and he felt bad because he was about to take it away almost certainly with what he was going to say, but it was important and he had to do it. “Aurea...” He started with a soft voice but the tone was serious. “The things you did here today, when we go back home, you can’t do those thing there.”

As expected, the smile vanished from his daughter’s face. “Why?” She asked.

Lucifer was a bit relieved by her question, he didn’t want to do the same thing Dean did, and if she was questioning him it meant she wouldn’t do it just because he said so and she had to follow the order. So this time she wanted an explanation, which he wasn’t sure if she would understand... “Because it can be dangerous and you shouldn’t do it when you’re alone.” Lucifer tried not to transmit her fear. Aurea kept staring at him with a semi-sad face. “But every time I come home, we can go take walk if you want, alright?”

The smile returned, not as bright as before, but it was there. “Alright.” Aurea said and Lucifer knew she meant it.

She lay down and Lucifer tucked her and waited for her to fall asleep. But then he ended up for staying all night watching her. In the next two days the training/play continued, not only about flying but also about moving objects, locking doors and turn on and off the lights, and also a bit of telepathy that happened accidently. But there were calm moments of bonding too, and even serious moments in which Lucifer explained what Aurea shouldn’t do.

After three days in that house, Lucifer thought it was time to return home. Aurea was a fast learner and she had improved very much in those days, but Lucifer thought it was enough for now. Aurea wanted to go back too; that was clear because she appeared suddenly on her knees in Sam’s lap, who was sat at the table reading the newspaper. Sam was surprised and leaned back on the chair; instantly his nervous system was activated and his heartbeat got fast. Sam realised it was Aurea when she quickly hugged him. “Sorry for scaring you, daddy.”

Sam calmed down and hugged his daughter back. “That’s okay, honey.” Sam kissed her cheek.

“The landing was good, but maybe we’ve got to work on the place you land.” Lucifer commented, as neither Sam nor Aurea had noticed his arrival.

Aurea detached herself from Sam and looked at Lucifer. “No. I landed where I wanted.”

Lucifer smiled and Sam got up from the chair with Aurea. “Did you have fun?” Sam asked his daughter.

“Yes.” She said with a large smile and Sam realised she was much better than when she left.

Lucifer got closer to the family and said “Close your eyes”, looking at Aurea. “I have a surprise for you.”

Aurea was reluctant for a moment, but then she covered her eyes with her hands. She was wondering what the surprise was, and so did Sam. The young hunter was enlightened when Lucifer unexpectedly brought a hand to his neck and kissed him, so sweetly that made Sam moan softly. The little girl obviously heard the strange sounds, but her pure innocent mind couldn’t find out what the sounds were.

So she decided to take a peek, but Lucifer noticed it and pulled away. “Okay, you can open them.” He said as he still licked his lips.

When Aurea opened her eyes, Lucifer was holding a rare flower in shades of orange and light pink in front of her. One thing he had learned was that Aurea had a fascination for flowers, so she looked mesmerized by the beautiful flower. In the meanwhile, Sam sent Lucifer a few looks of disapproval for tricking their daughter, just to kiss him, but Lucifer knew Sam had enjoyed it. Then Lucifer put the flower behind Aurea’s hear, as an adornment to her hair. “Magnificent.” He told the young girl with a smile.


	6. Free to be you and me

For the next months it was the same; Lucifer and Castiel came and went regularly, and so did Sam and Dean. It passed some time; Aurea had made 3 and John was already 6 months old.

Sam was in his bedroom, stripping off his clothes for a nice shower. He took off the blue shirt and t-shirt, and as he pulled out his pants and then got up, he was startled by the figure he saw in the mirror. Recognizing who it was, Sam turned around to Lucifer, who was leaned against the wall, admiring with a small smirk.

“How long have you been there?” Sam asked.

“Unfortunately not since the beginning, but I’m enjoying the show.” Lucifer walked towards Sam, who was just in underwear. “Please continue.”

Sam rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help but smile slightly. “You wished.” He teased.

“Come on, Sammy...” Lucifer touched Sam’s soft skin in his hip and pulled him closer and he kissed Sam gently.

After a couple of seconds Sam put a hand on Lucifer’s chest and pulled away. “I just got back from a hunt. I’m going to take a shower.”

Sam kept walking away in direction of the door. “Do you want some company?” Lucifer asked in a casual voice but Sam knew there was nothing innocent in that question.

“No.” It wasn’t rude, just assertive enough for Lucifer not to question it. They weren’t exactly in the most appropriate place...

Sam got in the bathroom and closed the door. He opened the hot water and got inside the bathtub, letting the water wash the residues of dust and sweat of his body. Five minutes later when Sam finished washing his hair, Lucifer appeared from the steam, naked and he grabbed Sam from behind, with a hand on his belly and other on his chest. “You used to be smart Sammy... You should know I knew you were lying.” He whispered.

Sam thought about it; he had meant what he said, but the question was if he wanted, and deep down in his true desire, yes he wanted. Somehow Lucifer got to see it, before he did.

Lucifer diminished the pressure on Sam’s body, allowing his lover to turn around in his personal space. Lucifer immediately reached Sam’s lips with his own in a wet kiss. The hot tongues touched as Lucifer gently pressed Sam against the wall. Feeling the cold wall, Sam broke the tasty kiss. “Don’t forget we’re not alone in the house.” Sam said in breathless voice.

“Details, Sammy.” Lucifer clearly didn’t care, or he had a plan in mind. But Sam didn’t have time to ask because the small space between them was closed again in a much more passionate and addicted kiss.

Eventually Sam brought his arms around Lucifer’s neck to pull him closer, which was physically impossible because their wet naked bodies were already glued to each other. Lucifer kept his hands on Sam’s hips as they kissed hungrily, making slight body movements that took effect on Sam’s body, Lucifer could tell.

When Sam opened his eyes a bit he noticed they weren’t in the same bathroom. They probably weren’t in the same house, but Sam didn’t bother to ask. When his mouth was free from Lucifer intoxicating essence, Sam remained speechless since Lucifer went down to kiss his neck. Sam only managed to let out soft gasps, caused by Lucifer’s vigorous touches that turned him on. Holding him tight by the waist, Lucifer slowly covered Sam’s chest and abdomen with gentle kisses, feeling Sam’s cock hardening against his body as he went down.

When Lucifer got on his knees, Sam’s arms followed the movement, resting on the devil’s shoulders, as he softly licked the hunter’s cock. Sam shivered at the sensitive touch, breathing fast and uncontrollably, especially when Lucifer involved the cock with his mouth moving slowly. After some time Sam’s breathing got regular but his heart kept beating rapidly as he felt hot waves of pleasure. Every time Lucifer speeded up a little, the pattern of constant fast breaths broke and Sam gasped and moaned unconsciously, lost in the feeling.

Then again, Lucifer moved faster again and his name escaped from Sam’s lips and Sam curled his fingers in his hair. But when Sam was almost reaching the climax, Lucifer slowed down. It happened every time and Sam was being sick of it. He managed to get some control of his body and pulled Lucifer on his feel by his hair and then shoved him against the wall, inverting the papers.

“I know what’s your game, Lucifer.” Sam tried to sound convict but his voice was wrecked, his eyes were darker and full of lust mixed with frustration. Sam knew Lucifer had been teasing him to make him angry and desperate, so he would act on it.

Lucifer smirked proudly, not taking his eyes off of Sam’s as he licked Sam’s fluid from his lips.

“Fine, I play,” Sam stated, still in a breathless voice. “But don’t forget you asked for it.” He warned Lucifer with a glare full of bad intentions (or good, depending of the point of view).

Lucifer’s smirk turned into a victorious smile. Sam pressed their bodies together, kissing Lucifer roughly for his enjoyment. Soon Sam let go of Lucifer’s reddish lips and focused on the pale neck, sucking and biting a little, hard enough to leave a mark and make Lucifer unconsciously gasp. After a while Sam pulled back and looked at the mark getting red, that Lucifer could easily make it disappear. But Sam didn’t want that, so he ordered looking into Lucifer’s eyes “Leave it.”

Lucifer knew what he was referring to. “Anything you wish, Sammy.” So Sam carried on the job on Lucifer’s neck, as their cocks rubbed against each other, making it difficult for Sam to breathe correctly. On the other hand, Lucifer seemed to be enjoying the touch that made him forget all his duties in Heaven; something that only Sam was able to do and something Lucifer only allowed him to do.

Sam passed his hands from Lucifer’s hips to his thighs as he lowered a bit. But with a firm push Sam got up again, lifting Lucifer with him and wrapping Lucifer’s legs around his waist. They kissed again wetly as Lucifer felt Sam’s erected cock touching his ass and they moan in unison. After a few deep breaths Sam slid inside Lucifer as he bit his bottom lip and Lucifer closed his eyes, feeling the heat wash through his body. More than the simple human touch that Lucifer never cared about, there was the metaphysic touch of waves between Sam’s shining and warm soul and Lucifer’s cold blue grace that came from the thin bodies, wanting so badly to meet and fuse together for a complete and stable new form of energy.

Sam didn’t see his grace, he maybe only felt it (without know exactly what it was), but Lucifer could see Sam’s beautiful grace that had made him company in Hell and the one he had fallen in love with, turning Hell into Heaven. Lucifer could feel the strong soul, and the more he could feel the addictive energy, the more he wanted to have it closer, to sink in it. But on Earth that was impossible, the soul was contained in Sam’s body, it wasn’t like in the cage. Still, there was a strong connection between him and Sam that could cross the physical barriers of the skin, and the more physically connected they were, the more Lucifer could be lost in the soul.

That was why Lucifer was moaning softly and his cock kept hardening as Sam thrust inside him. To Lucifer what really turned him on were the unique things that couldn’t be seen nor properly explained. Like people usually say, what matters the most is what’s inside a person, and that was what Lucifer loved the most on Sam.

Sam’s body was warm, he was sweating, he could feel the hot blood on his veins and yet there was a cold shiver that passed all over his body. The cold energy (passed by Lucifer’s grace) although it contrasted with the Sam’s body heat, it felt really good, refreshing, and Sam didn’t want get rid of the perfect mix of feelings, like fire and water. So Sam moved faster and soon he was getting close to the climax. But it was Lucifer that, with the powerful link to Sam and his grace getting out of his control, had to unleash the tension in both human and angelic form, by expelling the hot human fluid to Sam’s chest and by revealing his large and dark wings on the wall.

Sam took the unique a rare moment and moved his hands from Lucifer’s legs to press them against the flaming wings. They weren’t physical wings, they were more like shadows; so as soon as Sam put his hands on them he passed through the wings and hit the wall and Lucifer screamed in a mix of pain and pleasure, as he grabbed Sam’s long and wet hair. Although they were like shadows, Sam was still able to feel the smoothness of it, as well as the intense heavenly ecstasy feeling that washed over him, so overwhelming and intoxicating that made Sam come in small convulsions.

Then Lucifer’s wings disappeared and the source of the amazing feeling was gone, leaving Sam breathless with his forehead touching against Lucifer’s. They stayed like that, looking in each other’s eyes in silent, as the thrill dissipated and was replaced by tiredness. Finally, Lucifer interrupted the heavy breathes by kissing him softly and when Sam opened his eyes again he noticed the background had changed; Lucifer had taken him to a fluffy bed. When Lucifer got off of him, feeling a sudden emptiness, and lied close at his side, Sam recognised the room and immediately knew they were in the house Lucifer had carefully built.

They stayed lied down quietly for some time, recovering. The only thing that broke that moment was Lucifer’s fingers touching gently on his half-closed hand, and Sam found himself cleaned. Sam split up the fingers of his hand, allowing Lucifer’s fingers to fill the spaces between his, holding his hand, his wounded hand that Sam used to press the scar to make Lucifer disappear from his mind. Sam smiled a bit at the irony, because now he didn’t want Lucifer to leave, never.

Then suddenly Lucifer broke the silence. “Don’t touch my wings again.” He said in a surprisingly serious tone, but still a bit soft, and Sam turn to him to confirm if Lucifer was talking serious or not. When Sam met his eyes he was sure it had been... not exactly a warning, but a request. Although Lucifer’s voice hadn’t been accusing, Sam wondered if he had done something wrong. Perhaps he had hurt Lucifer when he touched his wings...

Lucifer had an unreadable face that in past would probably have scared Sam and he wouldn’t dare to say anything, but now he wanted to know. “Why?” Sam asked softly.

Lucifer didn’t want to explain. In fact he was hoping Sam didn’t make any questions about it, but as Sam did, he had to answer. Lucifer sat on bed and thought about the best way to explain it. “My wings, they are... strange. They can be my strength and my weakness. The last one that touched them stabbed me in the back, literally.” He said the last part almost in a whisper. Then he looked at Sam lied down. “They are the manifestation of my grace. My grace isn’t just a source of power, it’s who I am; all my memories, everything I did is in there, just like a human soul. So when someone touches my wings they are actually reaching to my grace and sometimes they’re able to see some of my memories. And... I haven’t done good things.”

Sam understood why Lucifer didn’t want him to touch his wings; because he didn’t want him to see the things he had done. But Sam had already seen something when he touched Lucifer’s wings; he had seen Lucifer torturing the first human, the first soul (Sam didn’t know how he knew it, he just did), creating the first demon, Lilith. Although it wasn’t a pretty image, it didn’t scare Sam at the time; the good feeling his grace sent to him had more effect.

“I did bad things too, but I bet you know about that.” Sam always managed to sympathise. Lucifer didn’t know what Sam considered to the bad things he had done, but whatever it was Lucifer knew about it because he knew all Sam’s life. “Do you regret the things you did?” Sam asked and got on his knees on the bed.

Lucifer thought about it for a brief second. “No.” It may have sounded a bit heartless, but it wasn’t. “If I had done things differently I probably wouldn’t be here with you right now, so I don’t regret it.”

Sam smiled a little at the confession. “So don’t hide it. Your memories are part of who you are and I want to know about it.”

“I don’t believe you’ll like to know, Sammy.”

“All the bad things you did, I already know. Well, I don’t know exactly but I can imagine, and I don’t care about it, that’s not gonna change anything between us.” It was too late to change, they were too deeply in love for the past to break it. “You’ve lived for millions of years. I’m sure you won’t have only unfortunate memories.”

Sam noticed the angel wasn’t convinced yet. “I thought you didn’t lie to me.”

“I don’t. I never did.” Lucifer guaranteed.

Sam got near to Lucifer and sat on his lap, facing him. “The first time we met you said you’d give me anything.” Lucifer remembered that time. “So this is what I want; I want you to show me.”

Lucifer was silent for a moment and then he made a small smirk. “Alright.” Sam could turn his own words against him. Lucifer made his wings appear again. “I can’t control what you’ll see.” He warned Sam.

Sam nodded and slowly reached the wings that filled the room, and as he touched them a soft and peaceful feeling invaded him, and Sam closed his eyes. Then Sam felt like entering in a dream and he saw Lucifer and his wings too. Sam couldn’t see much of the place where he was because it was blurred, but it was a clear space.

“You should’ve hidden better.” Sam heard someone else saying. When Lucifer turned to him, Sam saw it was Michael (in Adam’s body) with beige wings.

“I’m not hiding. Hiding is for cowards.” Lucifer said. “Besides, you can find me anywhere.”

“You know.” Michael realised, although he wasn’t much surprised.

“Yes, I know Dad sent you to lock me up.” Lucifer told him calmly. After some time staring at each other in silence, he asked. “Why?”

“You know why. After what you did...You betrayed us, Lucifer.” Michael said in an accusing tone as he shook his head.

“Why? Because I refused to do something I didn’t agree with? Because I dared to speak what we all think? Tell me, how many angels do you think actually love humans? Two, maybe three?” Lucifer exposed his point in an angry voice.

“It doesn’t matter what we feel; we weren’t made for feelings. The only thing that matters is what we do, and you didn’t follow Dad’s order!” Michael got to a similar tone to Lucifer’s.

Lucifer smiled a little. “You’ve always followed Dad’s orders blindly...” He wasn’t criticising, just stating. “You love Dad, I do too. We all love Him and we would fight and die for Him, but would you die to protect those murderous humans we’re suppose to love more that God?”

Michael didn’t answer, maybe because he didn’t know what he would do, or because he knew and was ashamed to admit that he would fight for the humans if God told him too, although he wouldn’t like to do it. Just like he didn’t like to fight with his little brother...

“I am right in the things I said, you know that Michael. Humans aren’t perfect, they have flaws, they can be evil; I’ve showed the things they can do. They take all the opportunities and motives to fight, to kill! They’ll slay each other, they’ll murder other species and they’ll destroy the planet.” Lucifer tried to show how unfair it was for him to being punished by something that was right. “Don’t do this, brother. I know you don’t want to.” That was Lucifer’s last try to prevent Michael from doing their Father’s order.

Michael shook his head slightly but confident. “You’re not my brother anymore, Lucifer. You’re a monster. And you should be locked like one.” Michael made his shining sword slide and appear in his hand. Regardless of what he wanted, he considered himself to be a good son, so he had to accomplish the mission God gave him, because he wouldn’t fail and disappoint his Father like Lucifer did.

Suddenly Michael threw himself at Lucifer holding the sword firmly, almost giving no time for Lucifer to escape. After that, Lucifer attacked with his own sword and so began the fight between the two brothers. After some time Michael managed to hit Lucifer and from the small cut came out a light that healed the wound. The archangels kept fighting fearlessly, slashing each other deep enough for them not being able to quickly heal it. Lucifer flew away to gain some time, but Michael wasn’t far behind; and so they turned Heaven into their battlefield.

While they jumped around in Heaven, they met some of their brothers, but it didn’t distract them from the fight. The other angels didn’t interfere, they just stood watching. Although the faces of the angels were distorted just like the rest of the surroundings, Sam was able to identify one angel; Gabriel. He seemed young and he was staring at his wounded brothers, the brothers that he loved and idolised, fighting as if they were the worst enemies; at least that was what looked like to Gabriel’s eyes. After some time watching his brothers hurting each other, Gabriel disappeared.

Then in a moment of distraction, Michael slashed Lucifer’s wings. The younger archangel let a small scream of surprise and pain, Michael took advantage and pushed Lucifer and they both fell, slashing the air and they hit the Earth. The crash of two powerful forces created a loud thunder and a massive earthquake, which the people at the time blamed the Gods for it, and well they weren’t far from the truth. On the lawn, Michael partially immobilised his rebel brother and kept striking Lucifer’s dark wings.

Sam not only saw the bloodied archangels’ fight but he also felt Lucifer’s pain, and he could tell that every time Michael hit Lucifer’s grace, a memory of the happy moments they spent together came to Lucifer’s mind. Despite the pain and the memories, Lucifer kept fighting back as hard as he could, but it didn’t make his brother slow down. After several deep stabs on his back Lucifer wasn’t able to fight any longer, he tried to hold on the ache without emitting any sound, while the familiar moments (some forgotten, others not) he spent with Michael passed before his eyes and were painfully ripped apart.

“Michael...” Lucifer said weakly, asking his brother to stop, but he didn’t finish the sentence because he knew it wouldn’t have any effect.

Michael pulled him out of the ground and then dragged him into a dark hole that started to form. Michael let him fall to the deep dark bottom, where the light that came in seemed only like a star watched from the Earth.

“You disappoint me, Lucifer. After everything I taught you, and this is all you got?” Michael asked, flying, but also hurt.

“This isn’t over. I’ll get out of here, someday.” Lucifer sounded confident.

“I know. We are destined to meet again.”

Lucifer chuckled. “There’s no destiny, not for us. We make others’ destinies; we can make our own too. We can choose not to fight.”

“You do whatever you want. But when you get out, I’ll find you. And you can fight, or you’ll die.” Michael sent his brother an ultimatum and then he left the cage, locking it up at 66 keys.

Lucifer was left in total darkness, with only a weak light from his grace that came from the bloodied cuts of his broken wings that he tried to heal. Lucifer was left in pain and Sam was feeling it, until a voice woke him up.

“Sam...” Lucifer called, touching Sam’s face with a hand. He had been able to see what Sam saw and he had been able to interfere in the way Sam’s mind interpreted the information, so it made more sense to him (in reality those weren’t their true forms and they didn’t talk English) and it wouldn’t be so aggressive, because in reality it had been much worse.

Sam opened his eyes, breathing fast from the intense mix of emotions, and Lucifer wiped away a tear that rolled down Sam’s cheek. Then Sam let go of Lucifer’s wings shaking slightly, just to hug him tight, leaning his head on the angel’s shoulder. Sam was cold, so Lucifer hugged him back, caressing his skin, and involved him his soft wings.


	7. If you die, you better die with a smile

A year passed normally with the same old routines, Aurea and John grew up and turned into beautiful and smart children, perhaps more developed than most of the kids at their ages. Aurea was four, almost five, and John was two years and half and his most visible characteristics had changes since he was a baby. His hair became light brown (similar to Dean’s hair colour) that contrasted with his pale skin (like Castiel’s) and intensified the beauty of his heterochromatic eyes, one green and the other blue. The heterochromia was only noticeable when John was almost one year old, it was a rare mutation in humans and Castiel could easily fix it. But Dean didn’t want it, it made John special, unique and perfect in Dean’s opinion, so he wouldn’t change anything about his son.

On a break from the job Sam and Dean decided to take Aurea and John to a park nearby where they could have some fun in the playground. Castiel went with them as well, making company to the children in the backseat of the Impala during the trip and watching John and Aurea playing happily with their favourite toys, Aurea had her beloved plain and John had his newest car that looked like the Impala). By the rear-view mirror Dean saw the familiar moment and he couldn’t help but smile.

When they arrived the children immediately ran in direction of the playground, but Dean interrupted them momentarily to give them some recommendations and then let them carry on. Not taking the eyes of their children Sam, Dean and Castiel walked towards a wood park bench and they sat down. There were more people in the park and more two children in the playground. As those kids were on the swings, Aurea went to a small slide, taking John by the hand. She helped her young cousin to climb the stairs and then he slid by himself. Aurea went right after him.

After Aurea and John spending some time on the slide, they went to the red seesaw, in which they had some fun although they weren’t riding fast. They didn’t stay much time because Aurea was excited and she wanted to try everything. Then she ran to the colourful spring riders in shape of horses and John happily followed her.

As the swings were still taken, it was time to try another slide, one that looked like a giant blue tube. When Aurea noticed her cousin didn’t follow her, she stopped running and turned around. She saw John standing still, no longer with a smile on his face, so she ran back to him.

“Ary...” He said softly when Aurea got close to him. That word had been his first try to say ‘Aurea’ when he was younger, now he could say her name correctly but he chose not to. “I don’t want to go there.” He looked at the swing with scared eyes.

“Johnny, it will be fun.” Aurea understood John was afraid and she didn’t want to push him, but there wasn’t any true danger. “We’ll go together.” She said so that John didn’t have to pass through the opaque and narrow tube alone.

John made a small smile and Aurea grabbed his hand to give his some more confidence. They walked together and climbed the stairs together and finally slid down together, Aurea holding John with her arms around his waist. The first time John was too much apprehensive to enjoy it, but when he realised there was no danger, he started having fun. When John got out of the blue tube he ran to the opposite side to get up the stairs and slide again.

At one of those times, out of nowhere, a boy with about 6 years old grabbed John by the back of his dungarees and shoved him away from the stairs of the slide, making the young Nephilim fall on the ground. “Get out of my way, shortie.” The boy said to John unfriendly and then got on the slide.

Aurea, who had just gotten back from her turn on the slide, saw what had happened and ran over her cousin. “Johnny...” She said in a worried voice. John was sat on the ground, looking at her with such sad and scared eyes that he was almost crying. “Are you hurt?” Aurea helped him getting up and immediately realised that John was physically alright; he was just mostly scared because he didn’t understood what had happened, why the boy had treated him that way.

On the other hand Aurea didn’t care why the boy had been so mean to John. _No one hurts my cousin,_ she thought as she hugged John to comfort him, which prevented the younger child from crying but not from letting out a soft whimper.

When the bad kid passed by them, Aurea had to say something, she couldn’t let him get away with it. “Hey!” She called, approaching him. “You hurt my cousin.” Aurea said with an unfriendly face.

“And?” The boy made unconcerned look.

“And you should say sorry.” Aurea said because that’s what you do when you hurt someone, like Sam had taught her.

“I’m not saying sorry.” He said prideful. “The two-colour-eyed alien kid was in my way.” He sent a look to John, who was hidden behind Aurea.

“You can’t treat people like that.” She was referring to the action the older boy had had towards John and the way he was talking about him. Besides, Aurea didn’t understand why the boy was calling John an alien; to her John was perfectly normal.

“No? And who’s gonna stop me? You?” He said almost laughing, because he wasn’t afraid of a little girl. Aurea sent him a glare; she really wanted to do something bad to that boy, to prove that she could hurt him if she wanted to. But she knew she shouldn’t fight, it was wrong and Sam had told her there were alternatives to fighting. “Step aside, blondie.” The boy pushed her to the side, not as hard as he pushed John but he still wasn’t very gentle, and he walked away from them with a winning smile.

Still mad and with a glare on her face, Aurea followed him with her eyes, and as a form of punishment or justice she made a rock roll fast but silently in front of the boy, which made him trip and fall on the ground. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed what she had done, but the other people didn’t saw it, not even the kid realised what had happened exactly. But then she met John’s clear eyes and he was looking somehow surprised by his cousin’s action, and Aurea put a hand on his shoulder. Then she looked, with no sort of remorse, to the boy who was bouncing slightly grabbing his scratched knee, trying to hold back the tears of pain.

But John hadn’t been the only one to notice, when Aurea looked over the park bench her father and uncles were, Castiel was looking at her, head slightly turned to the side and with an eyebrow lifted, in a kind of accusation look. Aurea knew why her uncle was looking at her that way; she wasn’t supposed to use her abilities outside the house, much less to hurt someone. Even with the look from her uncle, Aurea wasn’t intimidated or sorry. She was confident she hadn’t done anything wrong, she was only defending her cousin. Defending and protecting family members was something Castiel knew very well, just like the feeling of seeing someone he loved getting hurt (physically or emotionally), so he understood his niece’s action. Castiel just sent a little nod at Aurea and then returned to Sam and Dean’s conversation, not mentioning what had happened. Castiel was relieved to know there would be always someone who would look after his son when he wasn’t present.

“Let’s play in the sandbox.” Aurea took John by the hand to the squared structure with sand.

After some time playing, the children were smiling and laughing again, like nothing had happened. While John filled a yellow bucket with sand, Aurea hid some other smaller toys in the sand so that John would find them. Aurea laughed when John was looking for the toys in the exact opposite place where they were buried, and John got very happy when he found the colourful toys.

Then it was Aurea’s time to search for the toys, but while she was looking for them a sudden and strange presence caught her attention. Aurea felt uncomfortable and she shivered as she turned to see from whom that sensation came from, disturbing the happiness all around her. Then she saw a boy approaching, he was in a wheelchair, he was slim and his skin was unusually pale. The seven years old boy was using a hat but it was noticeable he had no hair under it. He was sick, very sick, Aurea was able to tell, she could feel the boy was uncomfortable, tired and in pain. As the boy approached, with his father pushing the wheelchair and his mother walking at his side, both in a melancholic state, Aurea felt even more the pain and sadness of the family.

“Ary.” The sweet sound of her cousin’s voice calling her made Aurea return to reality. John still had a smile on his face so Aurea concluded he hadn’t sensed the same thing she did. Then Aurea realised it made sense, John wasn’t like Aurea, he’s powers had only recently started to show and they weren’t many nor strong.

“I don’t want to play anymore. I’m sorry, Johnny. Let’s go back, okay?” Aurea’s face and voice didn’t seem happy, it was more a neutral expression.

Johnny didn’t complain and they got back to their family. As they came closer John ran to Dean who happily caught him and sat his son on his leg. Also with a smile, Castiel cleaned his son’s clothes, taking off the remaining sand.

Aurea walked towards her dad and Sam gave her a smile as he rubbed her head. Aurea leaned into a momentarily gentle hug and when she stepped back Sam looked at his daughter. “What happened?” He asked softly but serious, because even with an inexpressive face, Sam didn’t need to be an angel to know something was upsetting his little girl.

Aurea stared at him for a while, then she sighed. “It’s that boy.” Aurea pointed at the kid in the wheelchair next to a park bench, in which his parents were sat in. Sam studied the boy and it was impossible not to notice his condition. “He’s sick. I can feel it.” She said in a low and sad voice.

“I’m afraid he is.” Sam said in a similar tone as he looked back at his daughter sympathetically.

“I... I can help him.” Aurea said after a while. “I can make him feel better, I know I can.” In fact she wasn’t sure if she could, she didn’t know the boy’s disease, but she was confident she could fix him.

Sam understood Aurea’s words weren’t just a statement; it was more an emotive beg, a request to Sam let her heal the sick boy. Sam had been caught by surprise, he wasn’t sure what to say and his daughter waited, staring at him with a hopeful look.

Fortunately or not, Sam didn’t have to answer. “You shouldn’t do that.” Lucifer interrupted the silence, appearing next to the park bench. Sam shivered a little, more internally than exteriorly; he should’ve been used to sudden appearances of his lover, but sometimes Lucifer still startled him. Dean and Castiel also turned their attention to the subject whose talk they hadn’t been listening.

“But I can heal him.” Aurea insisted, taking a step forward towards Lucifer.

“I’m sure you can.” Lucifer said with a small smile, confident of his daughter’s powers. “But that doesn’t mean you should do it.”

Aurea looked at the boy and then she turned back at her father. “If I don’t help him... he’ll die. Soon.” Lucifer could see he had inherited Sam’s instincts in helping and protecting people.

Lucifer could tell her that the boy could still be fine, but he would be lying. So he crouched down and tried to explain it in a simple way, although it wasn’t a subject a kid would understand. “It is unfortunate; sometimes even unfair... but death is a natural thing. It is a part of life.”

Aurea said nothing else; she seemed to understand it, or at least she accepted it. “What if... What if I kill him?” Everyone looked surprised, not only for the question in itself or for the fact that it came out from a young child’s mouth, but also from the steady and emotionless words.

“No.” Lucifer told her.

“He’s in pain.” If the boy was going to die, at least she could spear him some more pain.

“I know.” Lucifer could feel it too but he learnt to ignore the other creatures’ feelings. “But there are things we shouldn’t interfere. Every people’s actions are linked together, they influence each other, and things happen according to what is called ‘the natural order’. Bad things happen in this natural order, but you must believe something good will come out of it. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Aurea said after a while in a low voice and Lucifer knew she hadn’t understood what he said, but it was natural and that was alright. What Aurea understood was that she couldn’t heal the poor boy.

“Hey, come here.” Sam said softly, pulling gently his daughter closer to him by the arm and sat her on his lap. Aurea made a disappointed sigh as her head leaned against Sam’s chest and he caressed her head. “I don’t understand. If I can help that boy... why can’t I help him?” Aurea said in a soft voice. Even the question in itself confused Aurea.

But Sam knew what she meant. “You still can help him. Just in a different way.”

Aurea leaned away to look at his father. “How?” She asked.

“You may not take away his pain, but you can... disguise it.” Sam said, and then he explained it properly so Aurea could understand. “The kid does look unhappy... So bring him some happiness.” He said in a challenging tone. “You think you can do that?”

Aurea was thinking in silence for a moment and then she smiled confidently when she had an idea. She jumped off Sam’s lap and turned to the sick boy, closed her eyes and easily invaded his mind, watching his memories. Like in every people’s life, good and bad things happen, and this boy wasn’t an exception. While Aurea was surfing by his memories she found out his name was Caleb, she saw him having a good time with his parents when he was younger, but then bad experiences also came to the surface as well as feelings associated to them, and that made Aurea get in a state of anxiety, with cold shivers and rapid heartbeat. _Focus on what you want. Ignore everything else._ The sudden words of Lucifer in her head made her calm down.

When she got what she wanted, Aurea opened her eyes and vanished in front of everyone. Lucifer set a hand on Sam’s shoulder to calm him down before he freaked out in worry. Lucifer knew where Aurea went and she wasn’t gone for long, 5 seconds later she reappeared.

“Where did you go?” Sam asked for curiosity.

“To grab something Caleb lost.” Aurea merely said, watching the boy in the wheelchair with an expectant look.

The rest of the family looked too and suddenly a dog came running towards Caleb. The boy that had been quiet the whole time called “Roxie” in a hopeful voice. The female beagle jumped to the kid’s lap, Caleb verified its identification and proved it was in fact his lost dog. Caleb smiled as he held and caressed the short dog’s hair, while his parents watched with a surprised smile. Roxie licked her owner’s face and for a moment the excitement was so big that Caleb didn’t notice his pains anymore.

“Good job.” Sam said to his daughter as he kissed her hair.

Aurea kept watching the scene with a proud smile. About ten minutes later Caleb fell asleep, holding his dog that kept shaking her white tail from happiness. Then Aurea noticed something, like a dark shadow passing through Caleb and then his glowing soul stated to lose its brightness. Aurea realised the boy wasn’t sleeping... he was dying. The dark shadow transformed into a nice woman, at least that was what Caleb saw when he got out of his body. But Aurea could see the creature’s true form.

She looked at Lucifer, unsure of what was happening and if she should do something. “It alright.” He told Aurea, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Aurea and Lucifer watched as the reaper took the boy in a bright light. Castiel also could see the reaper but he was distracting his son so he didn’t notice what was happening. Sam and Dean didn’t see anything.

“Dad, is he going to be okay?” Aurea asked looking up at Lucifer.

“Yes, he’ll be fine. He’ll be in a happy and painless world.” Aurea perhaps didn’t know, but the reunion with the dog was going to be one of best memories Caleb would relive in the eternity of paradise. It seemed like someone, whoever decide when people die, was waiting for a good thing to happen in Caleb’s life so his death wasn’t painful but peaceful.

Soon after, the dog alerted, the parents checked, and only then realised his son was dead. That was when Sam and Dean noticed what had happened. “We should go.” Sam said and they all returned to the car before the panic got installed in the park.

All things considered it hadn't been all bad, a bit stressful... but it also became a learning experience that sooner or later would have happened. Aurea had dealt with a situation very well and Lucifer was proud of her.


	8. Fate strikes when you least expect it

About a year later Aurea was old enough to initiate school. Sam talked about it with Lucifer, who didn’t thought it was a good idea, because Aurea would be unprotected. But Sam wasn’t going to keep her at home forever to protect her, as much as he loved and cared for her, she was still part human and Sam wanted to give her the opportunity of having a normal human childhood, and that meant go to school, learn things and interact with other children. So after a long conversation and a few favourable promises to both, Sam and Lucifer got into a deal, sealed with a kiss obviously. Then it turned into more kisses, cuddled in the soft bed in the cold night, but that’s not much of important.

Aurea was very excited to go to school when her parents talked to her about it. As young minds are easily influenced, when John heard about it he also wanted to go with Aurea. John was still young to go to first class, but he could go to pre-school; in fact the educational establishment in the town had pre-school and elementary school in the same building. Somehow Sam, but mostly Castiel managed to convince Dean in letting John go to school, despite his fear for his son’s safety. But no one else knew about John and Aurea outside the family, they should be safe. Besides, they would only be out for part of the day, then Bobby would go pick them up.

 _It’s going to be fine, Dean._ That was how Castiel ended the conversation and Dean kept repeating the calm and comforting words in his head, especially when school started. On the first day, unlike what usually happens with children when they see themselves alone and surrounded by strange faces, Aurea and John dealt with it surprisingly well. Despite of having no family member with them and being in different rooms, John and Aurea still felt each other’s presence and that gave them confidence in interacting with other kids and teachers. A week later both John and Aurea had made some friends. A month later they felt as comfortable as they were at home.

On the way back home, Aurea and John shared with Bobby what they did and what they learned that day. When they got home they usually ate something and went to play for the rest of the afternoon. That became their life, but one day, after a few months, something different happened.

The school went well for Aurea, on the break for lunch she met with John in the refectory for brief moment and then she spent some time playing with her friends. When the classes were about to start again, Aurea felt a sudden cold and she shivered as she walked by an empty hall. Then she noticed a dark figure following her and she turned around; Aurea was surprised to see a girl from her class in front of her. The young girl had brown curly hair, the same colour of her eyes and she was wearing jeans and a pink sweatshirt with a doll. But apart from the physical characteristics of her classmate, Aurea could see another face, an ugly shadowed face. It looked like the true form of the reaper she had seen before, but darker... and evil.

Aurea took a step back, not taking the eyes off of the scary creature. “Jade?” Aurea called in a low voice, expecting some reaction from the other girl.

Jade made a mischievous smile that children that age couldn’ do and said “Try again, sugar.” As the demon answered, Jade’s eyes turned black.

The demon approached Aurea quickly, pushed her against the wall and grabbed her neck. The demon looked around to see if anyone had heard anything, but the hall kept empty. With the pressure on her neck and the whole situation, Aurea couldn’t think of what to do, so she grabbed Jade’s shoulder to push her away, but instead something else happened. A yellowed light started to come from Jade’s body and the demon took the hand away from Aurea. No longer in great danger, Aurea still couldn’t break the connecting with the demon and the light became more intense, too intense for any human to see, but Aurea kept watching until the bright light faded and Jade fell on the ground. Aurea looked at her and the demon was gone; yes, she knew what it was, Lucifer had told her about them and she knew they were very dangerous.

Even under such agitation and with her heart beating like a drum, Aurea felt John’s anxiety and, fearing for his safety, flew up to her cousin. When Aurea arrived she understood why John was feeling that way; he was in the bathroom, with scared eyes and unable to move, looking at another demon (that was in the body of a boy the same class as John). Before the demon made a move on them, Aurea grabbed John’s arm and took him home, the place she was sure they’d be safe.

As they appeared in the living room, Aurea asked “Are you alright?” She made John look at her.

Felling safe at home, John nodded, trying to calm himself down. Aurea also tried to normalise her breathing, when they heard a noise.

“Kids?” Bobby said surprised. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at school?” He asked as he approached his grandchildren.

John and Aurea looked at each other and then back to their grandfather. “It ended earlier. So we decided to come home. This way you didn’t have to pick us up.” Aurea tried to be as convincing as possible.

“You know you shouldn’t leave school until I or your parents come to get you.” Bobby told them.

“Yes, we know. It was just this once. I’m sorry.” Aurea said to give credibility to the lie.

Bobby was a bit suspicious but he let it pass. During the afternoon Aurea and John were quiet, they didn’t play like they used to or talked to each other. They just stayed on the couch watching TV. When he came offering them something to eat they said they weren’t hungry.

In the quiet time, pretending to be watching cartoons, the minds of the children was still reliving the recent events at school. The more they thought about it, more questions they had, but they didn’t talk about it. The remembrances only brought the whole scenario to their minds again, and the emotions too and for Aurea it was becoming difficult to deal with it, so she went to her bedroom (which was also John’s bedroom).

Bobby noticed that and followed her. When he got to the room the door was already closed. “Aurea.” He called as he knocked on the door. No answer came so Bobby tried to open it, but he couldn’t, not even with the special techniques hunters have to unlock doors. “What happened, sweetheart?” Bobby asked softly with a slight tone of worry in his voice.

“Nothing.” Aurea replied quickly. It had been just one work, but Bobby noticed something different on her voice, as if... “I just want to be alone.” She said and Bobby was certain she was crying.

“Alright.” Bobby sighed. “But you know you can talk to me... about anything, right?”

Bobby waited for an answer that never came; the only thing he heard were soft whimpers. After a while he returned to the living room, John was in the same spot as before, but well aware of what was happening with his cousin. So he didn’t stay there for long and he dared entering the bedroom, where he found Aurea lied on her bed, crying over a pillow. “Ary...” He spoke uncertain if Aurea had noticed his presence.

But Aurea hadn’t noticed so she shifted in surprise. Then she realised she could lock herself but it didn’t meant no one else could get in. “Leave me alone, Johnny.” Aurea said, not looking at young boy.

“Is it... about what happened at school?” John guessed.

“I can’t tell you about it.” Her voice got deeper. “So, leave.” Aurea ordered.

“Ary-”

“Get out of here!” Aurea shouted and threw him a glass of water she had in the nightstand. When the glass hit the wall and broke with a loud noise, John already wasn’t in the room. If the glass would’ve hit him... no one will know.

Obviously Bobby had heard the glass breaking and by the same time John appeared in front of him, scared or surprised (or maybe both); but then his expression quickly turned sad and almost breaking into tears. “Hey, boy...” Bobby kneeled in front of him and pulled him into a hug. That was when he started crying, hugging his grandfather’s neck tight. Bobby picked him up. “Take it easy.” He told the young boy as he rubbed his back.

Great, now instead of one he had both kids crying and it was break his old heart, especially because he didn’t know what else to do. After a while shushing John, Bobby decided it was better to call Sam and Dean. Fortunately the hunters were returning home and Bobby was more relieved.

“Is that John?” Dean asked from the other side of the phone, hearing his son’s whimpers.

“Yeah-” Bobby answered looking at the boy in his lap, with a tear falling down his face.

“What happened?” Dean immediately asked.

“Aurea threw him out of the room.”

“Why?” Dean asked confused; Aurea didn’t used to do that.

“I don’t know. She locked herself in the bedroom and doesn’t let anyone in. And when I say locked, I mean angelically locked.”

“Okay, we’re there in half hour.” Dean understood it was serious so he just ended the conversation to give full attention to the road.

Aurea felt a hand on her back and shivered slightly with the sudden touch, but then she realised who it was, even without looking. Aurea let go of the pillow, wiped the tears with her arms and forced to stop crying before turning to the person at her side.

“Why are you crying?” Lucifer asked crouched next to the bed, still rubbing his daughter’s back.

Aurea sat up, still whimpering and blinked her eyes several times to take the remaining tears away from her eyes and she could see his father properly.

Looking in her glassy blue eyes, Lucifer could see doubt about what to answer. “Don’t lie to me.” He was sure Sam would have said it in more sympathetic way, but Lucifer hadn’t sounded rude either. He sat next to his daughter and said “Just calm down...” Lucifer touched the Aurea’s sad face gently with his hand. “Then tell me what happen so I can help, alright?” If it was an angel or a human, Lucifer could see it; but his daughter... he couldn’t see the cause of her distress unless she wanted him to. It was amazing how powerful she had became and Lucifer was sure it was only one of many things in which she’d beat the master.

Aurea nodded and, on her knees, she came closer of her father and sat on his legs and leaned her head to his chest and Lucifer involved the trembling child with his arms. Soon Aurea’s uncontrollable movements started to cease; Lucifer was the best in calming down his daughter because he could provide a relaxant tranquillity while others would get anxious seeing the girl crying.

When Sam and Dean got home the first thing they saw was Bobby holding little Johnny, who had such sad face that alarmed Dean. “John.” He said as he approached.

“Dad.” The young boy said gladly, despite the situation and immediately launched his arms in the air to his father.

Dean took him off Bobby’s arms and held his son tightly. “I missed you, dad.” John whispered to his ear. No matter how long he was away, two days or two weeks, when he got home John always said those words that made Dean feel a mix of happiness and sadness.

“I missed you too, baby boy.” Dean replied the way he used to do.

In the meanwhile Sam asked “Aurea’s still in her bedroom?”

“Yeah.” Bobby replied.

Sam went to her room and when he got there he tried to open the door but with no success.

Inside the room Lucifer said “How about we open that door?” Aurea nodded slightly and Lucifer unlocked and opened the door.

As the door opened Sam saw Lucifer with Aurea on his lap, cuddled in his arms and with the face hidden in his clothes. Sam approached the bed accompanied by Lucifer’s gaze and sat down next to them. “Hey, girl.” He said with worry in his voice as he caressed Aurea’s golden hair.

“What if you told us what happened now?” Lucifer asked to in encouragement tone.

After a little while with no response, Aurea pulled away from the comfy embrace. “At school...” She started. “after lunch... a demon came after me.”

“A demon?” Sam tried not to show the fear in his voice. “What did it do?” A shiver spread through his body as he asked the question.

“It was using my friend Jade, but I could see its real face.” She paused a little. “The demon grabbed me and then... I killed it. I don’t know I did that.” The surprise was clear on her voice. “Then I felt Johnny was in danger; another demon was following him. So I took him home.” It sounded like she was done and Sam was relieved nothing serious had happened to his daughter and nephew, but then Aurea continued. “Then I remembered I hadn’t checked on Jade. What if... What if I killed her too?” The fear was clear in her voice and panicked face.

“That is unlikely.” Killing the demon was unconscious act, a necessary act for survival, but killing a friend... Aurea would’ve known exactly what she was doing.

Sam wanted to say something to comfort his daughter, but there was still another chance Jade had died. _She was possessed for a short time, so the girl must be alive._ Lucifer’s words erased Sam’s doubts. “I’m sure your friend’s fine.” Sam kissed his daughter’s forehead and showed her reassuring smile. Aurea seemed to be a little happier with the news. “Why didn’t you tell this to grandpa?” He asked curious.

“I wanted to... but I couldn’t. Johnny was there. And uncle Dean doesn’t want him to know about supernatural creatures.” Aurea explained.

Sam nodded, he hadn’t remembered about that detail, Dean didn’t want John to know about the family business, he wanted to keep the innocence of his son about the real world. “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to talk to Dean about that.” Because John had seen a demon, something he had never seen or heard before, and the child surely had questions. Besides, Aurea had taken well when Sam and Lucifer told her about the monsters out there, of course not everything, but the enough so she could comprehend and know the things she should run from. So Sam thought John would react well. But it wasn’t going to be easy to convince Dean because his worst fear is, just like their mother, for his kid to be raised like a hunter.

“Johnny.” Aurea said suddenly when she remembered the way she had treated him and disappeared.

Aurea appeared in the living room in front of John, who was now sat on Castiel’s lap, playing sadly with his dark blue tie, and his legs were above Dean’s who was sat close to Castiel with an arm around his lover’s back.

“Johnny.” Aurea called in soft voice and the younger boy looked at her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. It won’t happen again. I promise.” The truth of her words was visible in her guilty face.

John got out of his father’s lap and approached Aurea. Still with a sad look, he said in almost a whisper “I thought you didn’t like me anymore?”

Aurea almost smile at the silly thought. More confidently Aurea took a step forward and, looking in her cousin’s beautiful eyes, she said “Johnny... no matter what I do or say, I’ll always love you.”

Aurea saw John’s expression turn into a smile with the promise of unconditional love, but she was still surprised by the hug that followed. “I forgive you.” John said with his arms around Aurea’s waist, hugging her tightly. “I love you too.” Aurea smiled and hugged back her cousin, stroking his hair gently.

Dean and Castiel, who were assisting to the share of affection, smiled too and Castiel even stole a gentle kiss from Dean, that turned into a longer and passionate kiss.

In the meanwhile, still in Aurea and John’s room...

“This isn’t over, is it?” Sam asked, relieved but also worried.

“No.” Lucifer replied. “This time nothing more serious happened, but it means someone knows about Aurea and John.” And it meant the children were no longer safe; soon the word would spread about the two little and powerful Nephilins.

“Any idea of who those demons were?” Sam asked.

“No. But I’ll find out. I’ll find the demon that got after John, and I’ll make it talk.” Lucifer said confidently, like it was his mission, because he had to protect his family.

“Lucifer...” Sam called before he left after the demon, with luck the demon was still using the young boy’s body. “Remember there’s a kid in there.” For Sam there was a line, a limit that Lucifer had no trouble in crossing it to get what he wanted.

“Of course, Sammy.” Lucifer wouldn’t cross the line, because Sam asked him not to. Lucifer stepped forward and kissed Sam gentle but deeply as he caressed the human’s soft face, and then Lucifer left.


	9. Father's Day

Lucifer did found out the boy the demon chose to possess so he could get close to John, but unfortunately the demon was already gone when Lucifer visited the boy. He was clearly disturbed by being forced to do things he didn’t want to do, Lucifer could see it, as the young human searched for comfort in his mother, to whom he had told everything and who was thinking about taking her son to a doctor; maybe a psychologist.

By the time the boy fell asleep and his mother took him to his bed, Lucifer came in the room and with a gentle touch he erased the kid’s memory of being possessed. It was a strange action; for a moment not even Lucifer knew why he had done that. It wasn’t like he cared about humans, his thoughts hadn’t changed much about the hairless apes, but in the time he had spent on Earth he began to understand things about humans. Most of things he already knew, but one thing that changed was his vision about children, the young humans (that before he didn’t differentiate them from the adults), he could see the purity and innocence of the beings at early age. That was the reason he had helped the young boy, even though he, like others, could still come to do terrible things in the future.

But this wasn’t an impulse, an exception; Lucifer truly believed the boy shouldn’t live with such memories haunting him. As so, it was fair to also help Aurea’s friend. Lucifer erased her memory and in the next day at school Aurea verified that her friend didn’t remember what had happened the previous day.

Sam did talk to Dean about being time to tell John about the supernatural creatures, and after a discussion and a little persuasion from Castiel, Dean finally agreed. Dean and Castiel both talked with John about it, as little as possible, only the enough to make him understand without freaking out. And John accepted well, for Dean’s surprise. Then he remembered the time he told Sam about their father’s job when they were young, how scared he was, comparing to little John’s reaction. But perhaps it’s not what you say, but the way you say it... and Dean was never good with words.

Months passed calmly, without any event that threatened the kids. In a morning, Dean decided to go wash the Impala, she had gotten dirty in the last hunt and Dean liked to keep her clean. He was kneeled down passing a wet sponge over the left door when he was grabbed around the neck and kissed on his cheek for a few seconds. “Good morning, dad.” John said happily.

Dean was almost falling in the ground, but he managed to keep the balance. He let the sponge fall on the bucket with water and detergent and then picked up John. “Good morning, kiddo.” Dean kissed the forehead of his son and then sat him on the top of the Impala.

“Is daddy coming home today?” John asked expectantly with a smile.

“Yeah... I guess so.” At least Castiel said he’d come back that day, and John knew about it. But sometimes things in Heaven could be a bit unpredictable, so Dean wasn’t absolutely sure.

“Great.” John’s smile got bigger.

“Why did you want to know?” Dean asked curious, because his son wasn’t usually that anxious for Castiel’s arrival.

“Nothing.” John tried to hide the excitation. “I just miss him.”

Dean kept looking at his son, suspiciously. He had strange feeling... like John had lied to him and at the same time he had hide it with another true. But Dean didn’t talk about it; perhaps he would find out the true reason later. “So, do you want help me wash the car while we wait for daddy?” Dean asked.

“Yeah.” John replied happily and jumped from the top of the car. It was still a big jump, but John didn’t hesitate, he liked the feeling. Dean, on other hand, didn’t like when John did that, fearing that he might get hurt.

Dean gave John other sponge and they continued to wash the Impala. It still took them a while to clean all the spots, but they did it with pleasure, and in the end Dean took off the foam with water from the hose. Then they stepped away from the car to enjoy its beauty, the sunlight reflecting on the Impala. If anyone saw them at that moment, they’d immediately recognized Dean and John as father and son by the similar look of amazement.

“Nice job.” Dean said to his son, after a while. “I think I need a shower.”

They got back in the house and Dean went to take a shower while John stayed in the living room playing with Aurea. After the warm shower, Dean left with a towel around his waist and went to his bedroom. He dried himself the best he could and put on some boxers, then as he dressed his jeans he said in the silent room “You know is creepy spying on people.”

Dean turned around and, just like he imagined, Castiel was behind him watching him. Castiel had a confused and surprised look. “How did you-?”

“After 10 year of sudden appearances, I can tell when you arrive.” Dean interrupted, knowing what Castiel was going to ask.

Castiel smiled. “It may be ‘creepy’... but you like it.” He provoked Dean with a slight smirk.

Dean got closer to his angel. “You bet I do.” The smirk was undone when Dean kissed him passionately. Castiel put an arm around Dean’s neck and grabbed his wet hair as the kiss got deeper.

\----------------------------

After Castiel arrived, Lucifer didn’t take long to return home. He appeared in the living room where the children were playing. Aurea immediately hugged her father while John watched them, and in the end he got a rub in his head from his uncle. Sam soon appeared, and after changing a look with his cousin, John left them alone.

“Sit.” Aurea told her parents, grabbing their hands.

Sam and Lucifer sat on the couch. “Why? What’s so important?” Sam asked, looking at his anxious daughter who certainly wanted to talk about something.

“It’s Father’s Day.” She said smiling. She had heard about it in school.

Sam thought about it for a moment and then he realised it was indeed Father’s Day, but it was a day that didn’t really mean anything to him. Sam had lived many years without it, just like his birthday or Christmas. But since Aurea was born, things changed; some special days almost forgotten began to be celebrated, like Christmas, everyone’s birthday, Easter and New Year’s. The other special days they didn’t celebrate... until now. “Yes, it is.”

Lucifer didn’t really care about Father’s Day. In fact he hadn’t even heard about it, but there were still some things he didn’t know about humans, mostly because he didn’t think they were important. But Lucifer was always present in the special days, even though he didn’t understand the concept of it. Apparently it was important for Sam and exiting for Aurea, so he was okay with it.

“So I have something for you.” Aurea said with hands behind her back.

Sam wondered what it would be; maybe a drawing... He remembered once, when he was about John’s age, he had made a drawing to give to his dad on the Father’s Day. It was a drawing about Sam, Dean and John, but his father didn’t care much about it; he was too busy searching about some monster.

Lucifer was always sharp about the changes in Sam’s mood, and this time was no different. He saw Sam’s remembrance, and then he kissed Sam’s cheek in sign of comprehension and affection.

Sam smiled, and then they gave their attention to their daughter. She held in front of Sam a bracelet; he took it to see it closer. The bracelet was made in brown leather, it had a few strange symbols that somehow seemed familiar to him, and in the middle had a little, orange crystal, bright like fire.

Lucifer also observed the uncommon bracelet closely. “That’s a-”

“Shh.” Aurea interrupted him. “I’m the one who’s supposed to tell.”

“Tell what?” Sam asked.

“That that’s not an ordinary bracelet.” Lucifer briefly said to let Aurea explain better.

“It’s a bracelet for protection; mostly against werewolves and vampires. It allows you to get closer to the creatures without them sensing you.” Aurea said.

“Really?” Sam asked surprised and looked at Lucifer.

“Yes.” Lucifer confirmed. “I hadn’t seen one of those in a long time... The stone is very rare and hard to find.”

“Where did you get this?” Sam asked curious.

“I made it.” She said, proudly. Sam looked at her, surprised. “I read how to make it in one of grandpa’s books.”

This time even Lucifer looked impressed, but it was Sam who talked. “Well, you did an amazing job.” He said, looking again at the bracelet and he put it on his wrist. “Thanks a lot, sweetheart.” Sam smiled before grabbing Aurea, sitting her on his lap and giving her a big kiss on her cheek.

Aurea smiled widely, proud of herself, but Lucifer knew that wasn’t the only reason. He knew how his daughter had come up with the idea of that bracelet; he was able to see Aurea’s memory of the time Sam had been attacked by a werewolf. She was scared at the time when she saw her father bleeding... So the bracelet was more than a useful gift, it was an insurance that nothing like that would happen again.

“I have something for you too.” Aurea said to Lucifer.

Lucifer was curious what that might be; she had been very smart giving Sam such useful object, but what had Aurea gotten for him? Because... what would an angel need?

Aurea handed him a bracelet, similar to Sam’s but without a stone, and the symbols marked on the leather were Enochian. Lucifer smiled, watching the bracelet in his hand and then kissed his daughter’s forehead. He didn’t need to say it, because it was obvious, and Aurea knew he had liked the gift.

“What does it says?” Sam asked, because those were merely symbols, they were letters.

\--------------------

“It says... I love you dad.” Castiel read with a smile what was written in the bracelet John gave him to answer Dean’s question.

Castiel put the bracelet on his arm. “Thank you, John.” He said sweetly to the boy who was waiting expectantly kneeled on the bed next to him. Castiel got closer to his son, kissed his head and whispered to his ear ‘I love you too’ in enochian.

“How did you do all this?” Dean asked his son.

“Aurea helped me.” He answered and then he changed the subject. “And I also found something...” John took something out of his pocket and when he opened his hand, Dean saw his old amulet he had throw away years ago. “It seemed... familiar.”

Dean smiled as he took the necklace in his hands. “It was mine.” He said, capturing his son’s attention. “Uncle Sam gave it to me when we were kids. It’s a very special amulet.”

“Why? What does it do?” John asked curious.

It was special because it had been Sam who gave it to him, in a Christmas they passed alone. It was special because he had had it for a long time and it had become a part of him. A part of him he had lost faith in, in a desperate time. But that time was over. “Whatever you what.” Dean answered, and his answer surprised John. “It is said that it can find God, so I guess it can do everything.”

For a moment Castiel almost didn’t recognized Dean; the hopeful way he talked... To anyone else it might seem Dean was lying, but Castiel knew he wasn’t, not really.

Dean wasn’t a faithful guy; he only believed in things he could see... But that didn’t mean his son shouldn’t have faith in something. He didn’t know if the amulet truly had some kind on magic or not, he hadn’t seen anything, but maybe it needed some kind of faith before it could work. If there were monsters that only existed because people believed in them, maybe the amulet only needed someone believing in its powers to work.

“When did you lose it?” John questioned.

“About six years ago.” Dean had to think before answering. “And I didn’t lose it, I threw it away.”

John frowned; he could see how much his dad liked the necklace, so why he gave way such precious thing? “Why?” He asked.

“Because when we have something for so long, we cease to appreciate its value.” Dean grabbed the amulet tight. “I didn’t want it, but I still should have kept it.” He held the necklace by a tip and let the rest fall. “This wasn’t made to use and threw away. This was made to give to someone we love.” Dean held the necklace with both hands and put it on his son’s neck.

John looked down at the pendant and then looked back at Dean with a happy smile. John threw himself at Dean into a tight hug. “Thanks, dad.”

“You’re welcome, baby boy.” Dean said with a smile as he hugged back his son.


	10. The Untouchable - part 1

Months passed. After the vacation, a new year in school began, in which John went to the first grade. The adaptation was quick; he was reunited with his friends, so it was as if he was at home. At the end of school Bobby went to pick up the children, he was usually there before the end of the class, but one day he wasn’t there. John and Aurea met at the school’s gate as usual, they looked for their grandfather but they didn’t find him. Maybe he was late...

So Aurea and John waited for Bobby; they could go home by themselves, but they knew their parents wouldn’t like it and they didn’t want disobey to them. Time passed and Bobby didn’t appear. Aurea started wondering if something bad happened, the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t be sure if she was sensing something was wrong or if she was just overreacting.

After some time in that dilemma, Aurea said “Let’s go home.” John didn’t disagree, so they went.

The moment they arrived outside the house they froze, staring at the terrifying flames that came out from the windows of the house. The whole house was on fire, it was difficult to find a part of the house that wasn’t being consumed by the dark smoke. John was scared, his breathing getting faster, and the only movement he managed to make was to grab Aurea’s hand.

The tight touch made Aurea snap out of the hypnotic state. “Grandpa!” She yelled as loud as she could, although the fear was clear in her voice. No sound came from inside the house, but Aurea knew he was there, she could feel him.

Aurea had to do something; she thought about it and the answer was easy, terrifying, but easy. So she took a deep breath, to calm down and get courage, then she turned to John, who was just as scared as she was, and she said looking into his eyes “Stay here.” Aurea let go of John’s hand and then disappeared.

Aurea got inside the house, in the living room where she felt Bobby was. The place was hot and full of smoke, she couldn’t see clearly but she still found her grandfather lied on the floor, unconscious. Aurea ran to him, grabbed his arm and in the next second they were outside the house.

“Grandpa.” Aurea called him again, kneeled beside Bobby, hoping for a sign of life. Once again no sound came, but Aurea knew he was alive.

Then Aurea turned back, looking for John, but she didn’t saw him. “Johnny.” She called, in hope John had gone somewhere and he’d return, but he didn’t. “Johnny.” She called louder. _No, no, no, no..._ At every second that John didn’t appear, she became more anxious and scared. “John!” Aurea screamed in despair, more in an angelic voice than human, while tears fell from her blue eyes.

\----------------------------------

Sam and Dean were in a motel room, two towns away from home, looking for a way to find the creature that was killing people in the town. Sam was searching on his computer while Dean was sat on one of the beds, cleaning the guns. Aurea appeared in the motel room, sudden but quietly.

“Aurea.” Dean said startled when he saw her.

Sam, who hadn’t noticed his daughter’s presence, turned to her and when he saw her sad and distressed face, Sam immediately ran towards her and the young girl clung to her father tightly, with arms around his neck and face buried in his chest. Sam took her, involved in his arms, to the bed and kissed her forehead. “Tell us what happened?” He asked, trying to remain calm but the worry was perceptible in his voice.

Aurea moved her head away from the comfort of her father’s chest, while Dean got closer to his brother and niece. “I...” She started, but then paused as she swallowed saliva. “John and I... We went home after school.” Her voice was irregular and tremulous. “But when we got there... the house was on fire.” Sam and Dean were alarmed, it seemed like the story was repeating itself, but before they started making questions Aurea added, because the fire wasn’t the problem. “Grandpa was in there. I got in and took him outside.” The brothers got a bit relieved, but Aurea became more anxious, anticipating what she was going to say. “But when I returned... Johnny was gone.”

“What?” Dean’s serious, worried and alarmed voice made Aurea shiver. “Gone how?” He asked, standing up from the bed.

“I think someone took him.” Aurea said in a low sad voice; her eyes filled with tears as she bit her bottom lip.

But there was no time to unleash the tears because Dean kept making questions. “Did you see someone?” He asked quickly.

“No.” Aurea answered immediately.

“Did you hear something? Did you feel something?” Dean questioned quick and a bit too harshly, not giving time the girl to answer.

“Dean.” Sam’s serious voice was a warning that he was going too far. He understood Dean was worried, he was too, but Dean was only scaring Aurea even more.

So Dean stopped, turned around and passed a hand through his hair as the panic installed. There was a short moment of silence, that felt longer than it was in reality, and then there was the sound of Dean inhaling deeply before turning around. “Aurea, take us to Bobby.” He ordered, but in a nicer tone.

While Sam tried to comfort Aurea to make stop crying (Sam hated seeing his daughter crying), Dean quickly grabbed a few important things before leaving. When Aurea got a little better, she took the brothers to the refugee house where she had left her grandfather because she knew it was a safe place. Bobby was laid on the couch, where Aurea had put him, still unconscious. Sam and Dean went to check Bobby’s state.

“Is he going to be alright?” Aurea asked, still visibly distressed. She had tried, but she couldn’t make Bobby wake up.

“Yes, grandpa is okay. He just needs to rest.” Sam said to his daughter, pulling her closer and then he picked her up.

She was glad Bobby was alright, but the master problem continued and it kept affecting Aurea deeply. “It’s my fault Johnny is gone.”

“No, it isn’t.” Sam immediately said, but the girl still broke in tears again. “It’s not your fault.” He whispered to her ear.

“Dean.” A soft and heartbreaking voice caught their attention. Dean, clearly stressed, saw Castiel coming in his direction and from the look on his face, the angel already knew the tragic news.

“John’s missing.” Dean confessed anyway in a low voice as his body shivered internally in fear and worry.

“I know.” Castiel replied in a steady voice, but the worry was clear in his eyes.

“Can you locate him?” Dean asked with a slight hope. Castiel usually was able to know where John was, just like the rest of them.

“I can’t.” Castiel didn’t know why, but he couldn’t locate his son and that scared him. “What do we do now?” If he couldn’t track John, how were they going to find him? But Dean didn’t know, he couldn’t think of another way, and the lack resources was making Castiel experience an uncommon human feeling; despair.

Just like Castiel came, hearing Aurea’s cry and feeling such anxiety from his lover, Lucifer also appeared. He kissed Sam’s cheek as a greeting and then he took his daughter in his arms. As Dean and Castiel talked, Lucifer tried to calm down Aurea. He sat on the armchair with her as he tried to shield her from the whole distress around her. “Do you want to help?” Lucifer’s words caught her attention but she didn’t move or said anything. “You could find John.”

“I can’t.” Her voice interrupted the weeping, momentarily. Aurea looked at him. “I’ve tried. But I can’t.” As she felt the despair of being helpless, she looked down and started crying again.

“Hey. Look at me.” Lucifer ordered in a serious tone; not rude, just strong enough to get her attention. And it worked, because now Aurea was looking steady into his eyes and the tears stopped. “You are one of most powerful beings in the whole universe.” Lucifer said calmly, pointing at her. “You can do whatever you want. You just have to think about it.” Aurea was looking into Lucifer’s peaceful cool blue eyes, but she was still shaking. “So, calm down... and go find John.”

Aurea stayed a few seconds staring at him, but then she nodded. She closed her eyes and did the best to calm herself while she looked for a trace of John’s distinct energy (the mix of a grace and a soul) that she knew so well. But it was hard... _Believe in yourself._ Her father’s words echoed in her head but they didn’t distract her, on the contrary. After some seconds, still focused, Aurea opened her eyes and said “I found him.”

Suddenly, they were all in a different place. Dean looked around, just like Sam and Castiel, to figure out where they were and for a moment Dean thought they were just outside the house, judging by the amount of threes around them. But soon he realise he was wrong. Aurea ran towards a grey brick wall that surrounded the large place. She climbed the wall a little to see the other side as the adults followed her. “Johnny is in there.” She said, pointing to the abandoned warehouse down in a lower place.

“This explains why it was so hard to find him.” Lucifer commented.

“What?” Dean asked.

“The building is covered with Enochian sigils.” Castiel explained. “I can’t get in.” The sadness was noticeable in his voice.

Sam glanced over Lucifer with a questioning look. “No, Sammy. I may be powerful, but I’m still an angel.” Lucifer told him. “I cannot get in there either.”

Then they saw a man and a woman getting out of the gray warehouse. While they watched the couple with attention, Aurea held herself to Lucifer with hands around his waist. “Are those...?” Sam astutely asked.

“Demons, yes.” Lucifer answered as he caressed his daughter hair.

“Demons?! Why- Who are they? Why did they kidnap John?” Dean quickly asked, revolted, to the others.

“Not them; Crowley. He’s behind this.” Castiel answered.

“Crowley?!” When Dean thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked, but by the angel’s look he could see that unfortunately Castiel was absolutely sure. Castiel knew Crowley, he had worked with him...

Then they heard a sound behind them, but they didn’t see anyone. Then looked again to the warehouse and they only saw the woman outside. The noise continued and it kept coming closer so Lucifer took them all to the safe house. The moment they got to the house Dean went to grab a gun from the table, leaving the others confused.

“Dean... What are you doing?” Sam asked.

“We’re going back there.” Dean answered, still looking down as he put Ruby’s knife in his pocket.

“Dean, wait.” Sam tried to calm down his brother.

“I’m not gonna let that son of a bitch near my son for one more second!” Dean shouted; upset, angry and willing to do whatever it took to retrieve John.

But sometimes ‘whatever it takes’ isn’t the best move. “Lucifer, go take a walk with Aurea.” Sam ordered, still staring at Dean, in a tone Lucifer wasn’t very familiar with, so he didn’t argue. A second later, Lucifer and Aurea were gone and Sam was able to continue. “Going there now... that’s suicide.”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.” If it was suicide, it didn’t bother Dean, after all they had two angels that would bring them back to life.

Sam came closer. “This is not a ‘do or die trying’ situation, Dean. Are you willing to take that chance? Because, guess what, if we go and end up dead, John will still be there with Crowley.” Perhaps he was a bit harsh, but sometimes that was the only way to open Dean’s eyes. The good thing was that it had worked; Sam could see Dean had realised he was right as he sighed. “There are probably ten demons in there. We are outnumbered, so we have to be smarter. We need a plan.” Sam said more calmly. “Okay?” Sam waited for Dean’s answered but it was difficult to come. “Dean.”

“Okay!” Dean finally answered, but he was still a bit contradicted. He knew Sam was right but he couldn’t stop thinking the things Crowley could be doing to his son.

Castiel, who had assisted quietly to the argument, knew how Dean was feeling. He felt the same way, but they needed to wait, they needed to find a plan. So as the tempers calmed down, they started working on the plan. They gathered information about the old warehouse and all kind of weapons that worked on demons, and even a few that didn’t work.

Then, when Bobby woke up, he told them about the demons who had set fire to the house and Sam and Dean told him what had happened next. Of course, Bobby immediately helped them with the plan to save John. Not long after, Lucifer and Aurea returned and the young girl was so very happy to see her grandfather awake and well that she gave a big hug to Bobby when she saw him. Lucifer took the things Sam and Dean had left in the motel, including the Impala, and also brought them the Colt.

Soon the sky got dark and night came. The hunters took a break to eat, but they didn’t eat much; Aurea ate more than the three of them together. Then they finished the plan; it wasn’t a good plan but it was the best they came up with. They decided to put it in practice in the next day. Dean didn’t like it, he couldn’t wait so long, John could not wait so long... but when Castiel assured him that John was physically fine, or else he would sense it, Dean agreed.

They tried to make it look like it was just another normal night to Aurea, but it was tough. It wasn’t the same thing, not without John. Aurea went to bed at the same hour she used to, but she couldn’t sleep. So Sam lied with her and after about an hour of soft caresses and lullaby songs to mask his worry, she finally fell asleep. “She’s sleeping.” He said to Lucifer, when he got in the room.

“Now it’s your turn, Sammy.” Lucifer said as he walked closer the bed. Sam was about to protest; as if could sleep in a situation like that... “And don’t complain.” Lucifer interrupted him before he could say something. Sam just rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. Lucifer caressed Sam’s cheek and whispered “Goodnight, Sammy.” and then kissed Sam gently. Lucifer stayed in the room, watching Sam and their daughter sleeping, cuddled together, for the rest of the night.

In the living room Dean was still cleaning and preparing the weapons while he thought of a new strategic to use the next day, but every new idea was worse than the previous. Basically, they were screwed. And the worst was that it was John who was going to suffer the consequences if they failed. Dean couldn’t bare the idea of not getting his son back. In a moment, of fear and frustration, Dean grabbed a knife and furiously stuck it on the table.

Bobby, who was nearby, looked startled at Dean, but he didn’t say anything. As Dean breathed nervously fast, he saw a glass with whiskey being held in front of him. Yes, he needed a whiskey. He still hadn’t drunk any alcohol in that stressful day, because there wasn’t much thing in the house and he didn’t want to ask for a beer or something. But to Castiel, Dean didn’t need to ask for him to know what his lover needed. Still, Dean was surprised when he saw Castiel handing him the glass with the bottle of whiskey in the other hand. Dean didn’t refuse the drink; he grabbed the glass and drank the whole whisky at once.

“Another?” Castiel asked.

Dean nodded with a grateful look. “You know me so well.” He said with a slight smile. Castiel filled the glass again but this time Dean drank more slowly.

Castiel watched him drinking. He was an emotional wreck just like Dean, but for him there was no drink that could make him feel slightly better. Castiel was about to leave when Dean grabbed his arm. “Hey, I’m sorry for freaking out earlier.” Dean said, looking in Castiel’s eyes.

“That’s okay.” Castiel replied. “I’m used to it.” He said with the same melancholic expression, but he clearly wasn’t upset with Dean.

“Yeah... but you shouldn’t.” Dean remembered the times, over the years, that he had taken his frustrations on Castiel. It wasn’t fair for his lover, but even after that, Castiel stayed with him.

“You should get some sleep, Dean.” Castiel advised him. Dean was clearly tired.

“No.” Dean shook his head as he put the glass on the table. “I may have agreed to wait until tomorrow... but I can’t sleep. I can’t, Cas.”

“Try.” Castiel tried to sound hopeful as he a stepped closer to Dean, into his personal space that no longer bothered the intrusion. “For me...” He said, looking into Dean’s green eyes. “For John...” Castiel looked away for a moment and before turning back at Dean. “You’ll need your strength tomorrow.” He kept looking with pleading eyes that reminded Dean the eyes of his little boy.

Dean put a hand on Castiel’s waist and gently pulled him closer. Castiel held himself on Dean, with arms around his neck, hugging him tight. Dean did the same, he grabbed the angel’s shivering body and caressed Castiel’s hair as he whimpered softly at Dean’s ear.

After a while in comfortable embrace, they parted and Dean noticed Castiel was crying; there were no sounds, only the burning tears rolling down his cheeks. It was the first time Dean saw Castiel crying and, as much as it was breaking his heart even more, he knew he had to be strong. “We’ll bring John home.” Dean promised, looking into Castiel’s eyes as he cleaned the tears from the angel’s face with a hand.

“I know.” Castiel nodded slightly. “I believe in you.” He said in a low but faithful voice.

Still with a hand on Castiel’s cheek, Dean kissed the angel gentle but deeply, as if he was sealing a deal, in a sign of commitment to bring John safe and sound, but also in a sign of love.

Then Dean went to bed, although he wasn’t convinced that he’d sleep, but somehow, in Castiel’s peaceful comfort, he fell asleep after a while. Castiel kissed Dean’s forehead before getting off the bed. Then Castiel returned to the place Aurea had taken them, to the place where he could feel John. He sat on the wall, watching the building at a safe distance. It might seem like he was doing nothing there, but Castiel went there with a purpose; to let his son know he was there.

John was alright, at least physically, but he was scared, for being alone in a place full of demons. And Castiel wanted to give him a sign of hope that everything was going to be okay and soon they’d be together again. In that intense exchange of feelings, Castiel didn’t notice his brother’s arrival, he only noticed it when Lucifer put a hand on his shoulder. Castiel looked at his brother as he sat next to him, and so the two angels stayed there during the night.


	11. The Untouchable - part 2

In the morning, it was all set; all ready to break in that warehouse, kill any demon that crossed their path and save John. This way it sounded simple... but it wasn’t.

“Be careful.” Castiel said to Dean, looking into his eyes.

Dean simply kissed him, gentle and deeply, in a promise that he’d do his best.

Just like Dean, Sam was also giving a goodbye kiss to his angel. “Good luck.” Lucifer whispered when they parted.

Then Castiel took the brothers and Bobby to Crowley’s lair, while Lucifer stood at the house with Aurea. To their luck there were three demons outside the old building. Luck because that way Castiel could easily kill them, and there were fewer demons for the humans to face. After the demons were dead, Sam, Dean and Bobby finally got in, leaving Castiel alone outside, waiting.

The warehouse was dark and looked empty; there were no sign of the demons, apparently. They searched in a couple or rooms, always holding a weapon, ready to fight, but nothing. Then they heard voices coming from another room and the approached carefully, but before they reached it, two demons appeared.

One grabbed Sam and threw him to a wall forcefully while the other attacked Dean. With Sam dizzy on the floor, the demon moved towards Bobby, who fired his shotgun, filling the demon with rock salt. That made the demon back away for a while, but quickly the demon gathered his powers and started choking Bobby, using his telekinesis abilities. Bobby dropped his shotgun, but he still heard a shot and suddenly he could breathe again. Only when the demon fell on the ground Bobby understood what had happened; Sam, even at a considerable distance managed to shoot the demon with the Colt. A few seconds later, the other demon dropped dead, when Dean stabbed him with Ruby’s knife, after a fight with several punches.

As Dean whipped the blood from his mouth and Bobby and Sam picked up the weapons, Crowley got out from the room they intended to go. “Well, well... If is not the three musketeers. Only you to make such a mess.” He looked over the dead bodies.

Dean, who had no time to loose, approached Crowley holding the knife. “Where is he?” He demanded the demon.

“Who?” Crowley asked, unafraid.

“Don’t play dumb, Crowley, because you’re not one.” Bobby said, coming closer.

“Bobby... it’s been a while. It’s good to know you still admire my intellectual qualities.” Crowley gave him a subtle but meaningful smirk.

“Where’s my son?!” Dean shouted as he took a step forward.

“Oh, little John...” Crowley sounded as if he just remembered of John. “I found him all alone and scared... so I took the liberty to take care of him.” He sounded full of fake good intentions.

“What did you do with him?” Dean asked with angry eyes.

“Quiet. You don’t want to wake up your baby boy, do you? He looks so peaceful when he’s asleep, so defenceless.” Crowley smiled.

Dean’s anger grew, but he didn’t let it take control of him. He needed to see John was alright and for that he needed Crowley. If he attacked Crowley, other demons could take John away again.

“Relax, Dean. Little John is fine.” Crowley told him, but Dean didn’t believe his words. “If you hurt him...” Dean started threatening him, but Crowley interrupted. “I wouldn’t dare to hurt such unique creature with such incredible abilities.”

“Prove it.” Dean dared him.

“Sure.” Crowley agreed. “Come here, boy.” He called as he stepped back, and by the same door Crowley appeared, John came out. The boy looked sad and scared, but when he saw Dean, his face changed. “Dad”, John sounded hopeful.

“John.” Dean said, glad to see his son again.

John ran to his father, but as he passed by Crowley, the demon stopped him, by putting a hand on his shoulder. Dean was about to complain, but what mattered the most was his son. “Are you okay?” Dean asked, looking at John.

The young boy merely nodded, with those sad eyes that remembered him of Castiel and that Dean knew well, so Dean didn’t believe him, although he had no physical wounds. While Dean was more worried about John, Sam noticed something different on his nephew, a distinctive but subtle thin wire around his wrists. “You bound him?” Sam asked in shock to the demon, and only then Dean and Bobby noticed it too.

“Look, I like this as much as you do.” Crowley explained. “But it was the only way to make sure the feather-boy wouldn’t fly away.”

“Unbind him now!” Dean ordered with a glare, still threatening the demon with the knife.

“Humm...” Crowley made a fake thoughtful look. “No.” He finished. “And you can’t break the binding, so I suggest you three get out, and never come back.”

“No way.” Dean said with a glare. He didn’t have to look at Sam and Bobby to know they had the same opinion.

“You’ve seen little John is alright... I’m not going to release him, so you better leave, for Johnny’s sake.” The demon advised them.

But as usual Dean ignored it completely. This time he glanced at Sam and Bobby, who were ready to fight, so as Dean quickly grabbed his son and took him away from Crowley, Sam fired the Colt pointed at the demon’s head. But during the short milliseconds the bullet was in the air, suddenly it stopped before it hit the target and fell on the floor. While the brothers and Bobby seemed surprised and confused, Crowley smiled and then glanced over John. “I’m protected, boys.”

Everyone else looked to the young boy, who was huddled in his father’s arms, looking sad and guilty for interfering in his family plan to save him. “It’s not your fault.” Dean, who was crouched, whispered to his son.

“You really should have taken my offer.” Crowley said with a grin.

Instantly, three demons appeared, each demon took care of a human, disarming them and immobilizing them. Of course, the human fought, but that was nothing that a few strong punched didn’t solve. While John watched his father being dragged away from him and his family being beaten up, Crowley came closer to the boy and put reassuring hand on his shoulder, making John feel insecure. The fight stopped when all humans were pressed against a wall by an invisible force from the demons.

“What are you gonna do with us?” Dean asked and spit a bit of blood that was in his mouth. “Kill us?” He made a little confident smile to show he wasn’t afraid.

“You wished.” Crowley responded. “So that your angel lover could bring you back again? Since that I have you, and you stubbornly decided not to leave, I am going to use you, you three idiots.”

“For what?” Sam dared to ask, after a moment.

“To train my newest acquisition.” He looked at John. “He has some great abilities, and he knows how to use them... but not for what I want.” Crowley picked up the knife Dean carried from the floor. “So... let’s see how well little John is with a knife.”

The three humans looked surprised and a bit afraid of what Crowley meant by those words, because certainly he wasn’t mentioning... “No.” Dean yelled when he got to obscured meaning of the demon’s sentence.

“What do you say Dean...” Crowley walked to John, turning his back on Dean. “Like father, like son?” He finished with a grin, as he turned to Dean, revealing his son nervously holding the knife.

“You sick son of a bitch.” Sam shouted in disgust.

“I’m gonna kill you, Crowley! Slowly.” Dean angrily threatened as he tried to get free.

“Hey, watch you language in front of the boy.” Crowley warned in a calm voice, despite the angry shout.

He sent a look at the demon next to Dean and then Dean was forced to kneel. “Go on.” Crowley told John and pushed him softly in Dean’s direction. “Try long cuts, but not too deep.” Crowley advised the boy.

John walked, slowly in short steps, in direction of his father. Five minutes ago John wanted to be close to him, but now he didn’t want it anymore. Then in the middle of the way, he stopped. Crowley rolled his eyes; he knew what John was trying to do. “You can’t break the binding. You’ve tried all night...” The demon pointed out how useless John’s efforts were, but he still kept trying. “Just get over with it.”

“Stop.” Dean’s trembling voice caught the demon’s attention. “Crowley, please...” The only thing Dean could do now was to beg. It was humiliating and probably ineffective, but he had to do something, everything he could to prevent his son from torturing.

“Don’t make the boy do this.” Bobby carried Dean’s words.

“I didn’t make anything. You were the ones who decided to stay. Everything that will happen... it’s your fault.” Crowley looked at John and ordered, “Go.”

The boy started walking again, shaking slightly, always looking at his father. John’s sad and scared blue and green eyes made Dean’s heart ache. At each step John made, it was getting hard for Dean to breath. Soon John was just half meter away from him. “Dad...” John said in a low voice. Then he looked down at the knife he was holding and tears began to roll down his cheek.

Dean knew there was no way to stop it, so he had to be strong. “It’s okay.” Dean said to his son, hiding as better as he could his fear and guilt.

The hunters watched, wishing not to see what was about to happen, as John grabbed to the knife tightly. Sam and Bobby still tried to get free, while Dean tried to remain still and his son reached the knife closer to his body. When Dean was already expecting to feel the sharp blade on his chest and burning pain that he was decided to contain, a sudden wind passed through the place, and the next thing Dean saw was John on the ground and Aurea over him.

The surprise was identical in the humans and demons’ faces. “Aurea.” Sam said as he saw his daughter.

Aurea got up as John sat on the ground, and then she looked down and saw the knife stabbed in her belly. All of her family was staring at her with eyes wide open and mouth half opened, but before anyone could say something, she pulled out the knife of her body easily and dropped it on the floor. From the cut, only one drop of blood came out, because the wound was immediately healed.

“Well, well, well... A little moose with wings.” Crowley commented towards the young girl. “I could ask how you passed by the angelic sigils, but that’s the thing; you’re not an angel.”

Aurea was looking around the place, seeing her family immobilised and surrounded by demons, but when Crowley talked, she turned her attention to him. She looked him up and down; he was different from other demons and had such a distinctive true form, dark and cold, that made Aurea shiver. “You’re Crowley.” She said.

“Nice to meat you too, dear.” Crowley greeted. “So you were the one who killed my demon two years ago.”

Seeing the sudden interest in his daughter, Sam said “Aurea, get out of here.”

She glanced at her father momentarily, but then Crowley’s deceiving voice caught her attention again. “I’d take that advice.” The demon said. “Then, it can be too late.”

But when Aurea had decided to go there, her intention was to save her family; that was the reason why she had deceived Lucifer so she could get out of the house. So she wasn’t going to back down now. There was also something Crowley said that let her confused. “You sent those demons after me and John at the school.” She said, waiting for a confirmation from the demon, but Crowley kept with a straight face. Still, Aurea knew she was right, so she asked, “Why?”.

Crowley smiled slightly; he though the confirmation would make Aurea leave, but instead it only increased her curiosity. “Call it a test... to your abilities.”

Now that her question was answered, it was time to pass to the motive she was there. “Release my family.” Aurea simply said, in a mix of asking and confident tone.

Crowley chuckled a little. “You expect me to do that because you asked nicely?”

“Or because you know what I can do.” She said more confidently.

Crowley smiled at the ineffective threat. “You’re powerful indeed, but you think you can save them? How long do you think you’d take to kill the demons and take your idiotic family out without anyone being harmed?”

Aurea looked at the three demons as he she was estimating how long she’d take to kill them. “Two seconds, if these were the only demons.” She answered to Crowley. Aurea knew there were more demons nearby and if she tried to free her family, more demons would appear and someone could get hurt.

“You can feel them, can’t you?” Crowley said a bit amazed, because his demons weren’t that near (although they could get there quickly) and they were in protected place where regular angels couldn’t sense them. He had managed to fool the smartest creatures, but a 8 years old girl hadn’t fall for his false words. “I like you, girl.” He sent her a smile as he pointed at Aurea.

“Why did you take Johnny?” Aurea asked as she looked at her cousin, still sat on the cold ground staring at her or his father, pleading for someone to take him out of there. _Johnny, calm down._ Aurea mentally called in a way that no one could notice, a John turned to her. _I’ll get you out of here. I promise._ Aurea waited for some sort of answer. _I know you’re scared, I am too. But calm down and focus... on me._

“Hey, I had to do it.” Crowley said to the girl in a nice tone to convince her he wasn’t the bad guy. “I have some enemies, powerful enemies,” Then Crowley looked to the Winchesters with a glare “that have been after me, that tried to kill me! So I needed protection. And now that I have your dear cousin, I’m untouchable.” It was noticeable a slight prideful tone in Crowley’s voice.

John didn’t take his eyes off Aurea, as he tried to get some peace and comfort from the bond they shared.

“What if... you let them go... and I stayed with you, I’d protect you.” Aurea suggested to the demon.

“No!” Dean shouted.

“Aurea, don’t do it.” Sam begged.

“You think you can make a deal? With me? I’m the king of the crossroads.” Crowley chuckled. “Sorry girl, that’s not going to happen. I have exactly what a want.”

“Why? It’s the same thing. So trade me for John.” Aurea asked.

“No, it isn’t the same thing.” Crowley replied.

“Why not?”

“I’ve watched you. You’re winged daddy trained you well... too well for my liking. So I don’t need someone unpredictably dangerous by my side. Not when I can have your little innocent submissive cousin instead.” Crowley explained. “So thanks for the offer, but no thank you. I’ve worked with enough backstabbers in your family.”

 _Johnny, I need your help._ This time John was calmer, he wasn’t shaking so much inside, and he was finally able to stand up. Which he did after Aurea told him why she needed his help.

After a moment of silence, Crowley said “I’d love keep chatting, but I have more important things to do.” He turned to John, intending to continue what had been interrupted. “Stay if you want... and enjoy the show.” He looked at Aurea with a mischievous smile.

“I didn’t come here to talk. I came to free my family.” Aurea said determined.

“You still haven’t given up, did you?” Crowley rolled his eyes. “You know, you are really starting to upset me.” He got closer to the girl. “If you think you can stop me, go ahead. But remember, they are the ones that will pay if you fail.” Crowley came really close with threatening look that made her shiver.

“I can’t.” She slowly stepped away from the demon. “But they can.” _Johnny, now!_

The two children ran to opposite walls, as they touched them with determination and the walls started to shatter with origin where their hands where placed but dispersed for the whole building, breaking the painted sigils. Besides the loud crack as the walls shattered and the little earthquake the Nephilims created, quickly a tornado was added as the angels, who were waiting outside, entered fiercely in the building.

Lucifer and two more angels took care of the demons that were keeping the hunters immobilized, killing them with a small touch but powerful enough to purify the bodies and take the demons out to Hell. At the same time Castiel went furiously at his target, Crowley, pushing him forcefully to the ground that made a crater in concrete floor. Three more demons appeared to defend Crowley. It was supposed to take Castiel by surprise and off guard, but Crowley wasn’t the only one who had helpers. Castiel didn’t notice them coming, he was too focused on his rival, but fortunately his loyal brothers that where outside did and intercepted the demons. The humans were only aware that more demons had arrived when the bright light entered by the dusty windows, as the demons were being killed outside.

Castiel was holding Crowley by collar, pressing him to the ground.  He came closer and said in disgust and anger and hate in his eyes, “I told you I’d bury you.” Not giving the demon opportunity to do or say anything, Castiel placed his hand on Crowley’s forehead and killed him as he screamed, and a reddish light covered the place for some seconds and then disappeared, just like the bind Crowley had with John.

With his promise fulfilled and mission accomplished, Castiel got up and turned around to his family. He saw Sam kneeled, checking over and over again if Aurea was alright, although the girl had told him she was fine, and Lucifer with a hand on Sam’s shoulder, healing the bruises and wounds in his body. Bobby was recomposing himself after what had happened.

Castiel walked towards Dean, still bloodied, holding John tight as the boy shivered in his arms. “It’s okay.” Dean whispered rubbing gently his son’s back. “It’s over.” John hugged his father tighter and hid his face between their bodies.

When Castiel got close to them, he cleaned Dean with a touch on his arm and caressed John’s brown hair. The boy, aware of his presence, leaned away from Dean and looked at him. “Daddy...” John whimpered and reached his arms to hug Castiel. Dean handed him to Castiel, who held him close. “I missed you.” The boy grabbed his father’s trench coat and laid his head on Castiel’s shoulder. “I missed you too.” He verified his son’s state and then hushed him some things in Enochian.

John didn’t let go of him for the rest of the day. They went back home, to the comfort of the safe house. Dean made John eat something before he fell asleep in Castiel’s lap and then Castiel took his son to the bedroom and lay down on the bed with him. After lunch Aurea joined his uncle and cousin. When Dean went to check on them, he saw Castiel with one child in each side of him, glued to him. Dean tugged Aurea with the large blanket that was covering the three of them, he gently caressed Castiel’s hair and kissed his son softly before leaving the room.

“They’re all asleep.” He said to Sam, Lucifer and Bobby when he got to the living room.

Dean sat on the sofa’s arm, he looked thoughtful shaking slightly his head. Clearly there was something upsetting him, so Sam asked “Dean, what is it?”

Dean looked at him with a clearly not happy face. “After all Crowley did, he just... died.” The whole point was to kill Crowley, but to Dean that seemed too little. “I know I swore never torture again, but I could make an exception for him.”

“Dean, Crowley is dead... and he’s never coming back. He won’t hurt us or anyone else. That’s the best we could get.” Sam told his brother, relieved for they all made out alive.

“I know, but...” But Dean’s desire for vengeance hadn’t been satisfied, he wanted to make Crowley pay for everything he did... but he wasn’t going to share that with his family members.

“If it makes you feel better, imagine Crowley... in Hell... for all eternity.” Lucifer said. He and the other angels had closed Hell forever with all demons in it. “He was the king of Hell for some time, but he still made many enemies, mostly followers of mine, and now Crowley is reunited with all of them. I’m sure they’ll do many nasty things to him. Crowley will get what he deserves.”

Dean slightly nodded as he pictured that, and it actually made him feel better. Sam looked at Lucifer, surprised; Lucifer comforting Dean... that was new to him. But Sam was glad and he sent an approving smile to the archangel. Lucifer came closer to him and kissed Sam’s cheek as he subtly put a hand Sam’s lower back.

Soon the possible traumatic events were forgotten, fortunately. After some days, with everyone’s help, John returned to his cheery self. A week later the children returned to school. They bought a house close to the school; it was bigger and more comfortable but it wasn’t any palace. It was simply what they needed.

Castiel and Lucifer kept ruling Heaven, although they spent less time there, which pleased everyone. Sam and Dean also kept hunting; although the demons were all in Hell, there were still other monsters threatening the safety of people. When Sam and Dean thought in having a normal life, this wasn’t exactly what they had in mind. Their life is everything but normal; it never was and it would never be... but they didn’t want it any other way, because their life is beautifully unique and strangely perfect.

THE END


End file.
